Please, for the Love of the “Actual” God, Stop Calling Your Worship “Virtual”

Unless your worship includes avatars, holograms, or gaming devices or has ZERO intention of giving praise or proclamation to or about God, it is NOT virtual.

There, I said it.

Ever since shelter in place requirements have emerged in response to COVID-19, clergy, pastors, worship leaders and congregations have been forced to begin digitally curating experiences of worship from home or live-streaming from their facilities. While many churches have long been providing this option for those who are traveling, homebound or isolated, the uptick in the number of churches gathering the faithful online has led many to believe they are now doing “virtual” worship. But, this is not the case.

You see, there is nothing “virtual“ about worship that includes “actual” people intentionally gathering. Just because one is streaming what one is doing and others are joining in from different locations, does not make it virtually real. In fact, quite the opposite is true. If, through the use of digital technologies, a community is in fact gathered, connected, and worshiping together, well, you are worshipping together! This is not a virtual reality, it is an actual truth.

This week when gathering with a small group from my local community on ZOOM, I was again able to connect with living people, in realtime, in deeply meaningful ways. Although ideally we would have been allowed to share physical proximity, ZOOM more than sufficed. It put us in the room together. As we planned for our Holy Week services, we laughed, we shared, we prayed, we cried, and yes, we communed. This experience, far from virtual, made visible for us something that we all had forgotten in the midst of this pandemic, even if for only a moment: we were always connected through God’s Spirit.

When Christians label their worship online as virtual — suggesting that it is almost the real thing— we are likely doing more harm than good. This is not simply a play on words. It matters.

I would like to suggest that while the ideal of Christian worship is that it occurs in physical proximity, in the absence of the ability to gather, or in cases where it is illegal, or in instances where one is homebound, our digital technologies provide an actual and sufficient medium by which people may gather for worship in all its forms.

This may sound like something that need not have to be said. But I believe it matters in an age when we are trying to be the church in new ways. I also believe it matters because people’s experience of God matters. And yes, as a priest who very much believes in the Christian doctrine of incarnation, I believe that it matters, because for God, all matter matters.

Make no mistake, in the two to three decades since worship has moved from analogue to digital, from mostly “watched” to live-streamed with the ability to interact in realtime, more and more people have been able to share in communal religious experiences of God in real-time through song, word, meditation, prayer and connection. These real life experiences have deepened people’s connection the Church. They are also affecting everyday lives lived in isolation, bringing hope into fear ridden homes, and forming communities of Christians for the healing of the world. What is more, people are having these experiences because their digital technologies connect them and, more importantly, the God whom they worship and seek is with them the whole way through.

Let’s start calling our worship streamed and delivered through digital mediums exactly what it is: real worship. Let’s also start committing to letting God do what God has always done when we gather for worship (online or in physical proximity): show up. For the Christian God is never virtually present. When God is worshipped, God receives it. When people pray, God hears. When in community (online or in person) people lament, mourn, confess and bless, God’s Spirit is actually there — right where the people are — caring, healing, and blessing right back.