Dear Friends,
Yesterday (Tuesday) began early. I dragged myself out of bed around 6am so that I could watch the last couple of hours of the 1st cricket test match between India and England in Chennai, the ground bathed in beautifully bright sunshine, – and a fine win for England it was too. And the day drew towards its end with me watching my beloved Cardiff City playing away at Rotherham, South Yorkshire, the ground almost obliterated from view by an increasingly violent snowstorm that might have caused the match to be abandoned, (it didn’t) – and a fine win it was for Cardiff as well. Of course, whether in Chennai, or in Rotherham, reminders of the ongoing pandemic are there for all to see. Stadia empty of supporters, creating a very surreal atmosphere, especially at the football, with either ‘fake crowd noise’, or else silence punctuated only by the managers and their staff bellowing instructions to the players on the pitch often using ‘colourful’, even ‘industrial’ language to get their point across. The point I’m making is that ‘lockdown’ has provided opportunities to watch sport 24 hours a day, from all around the world, and all from the comfort of one’s own armchair. And as I get older, given the choice between dragging myself out in the cold and wet to actually go to watch the match or staying at home to watch it from home, I may well be tempted to forego the ‘live’ experience in favour of watching from home…And of course, it’s not just sport. The ingenuity of many churches and congregations has made it possible for us to experience ‘wall to wall’ religion. FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE, TWITTER et al provide opportunities to watch services broadcast from wherever, at whatever time we choose to watch. There is a sense in which one can ‘go’ to a different church each week, listen to a different preacher, experience worship from different traditions, denominations, locations. And again, all from the comfort of one’s own armchair. Indeed, I’m aware that there are a number of people, who live away from London, who watch our services regularly, or from time to time. The longer ‘lockdown’ persists, the longer we are denied the opportunity to meet together for worship, the more likely it might be that for some at least the ‘armchair’ will prove more attractive than the ‘pew’…Of course, be it a football match, or a church service, we won’t know until circumstances change sufficiently to allow crowds and congregations to return. One way to deal with the dilemma is to take away the choice. That is what will happen with football. When crowds are allowed back, the matches won’t be broadcast at the same time. Is that what we should do as church; remove the either/or, or continue with both/and? Anyway, while you are all deciding where to ‘go’ to church this Sunday, us sports fanatics will be in a heaven or our making. Tennis from Australia, or 6 Nations Rugby…Spoilt for choice in every respect…