What is in Kelvin's Head?

The Beatitudes of Livestreaming

13/09/2024

Blessed are they who livestream their church services
for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs to share with others and they know it.

Blessed are the sick and the dying in churches which livestream
for they shall be comforted by still being able to be part of their congregations
in addition to receiving the personal and pastoral care of their friends and clergy.

Blessed are those who are meek enough to know that audio matters more than video
for they will inherit the online audience.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for life-changing worship both online and in-person
for their love of God will be counted as righteousness.

Blessed are the joyful
for their joy online will light up the world.

Blessed are the purposeful
for they will make their livestreaming easy to find and they will ensure that
no-one needs to download a hymnsheet, a liturgy book and a pdf version of the notices.

Blessed are the livestream makers
for they are counted amongst the evangelists of today.

Blessed are the congregations who rejoice in the technical and digital skills of those who are often overlooked
for they shall reap a harvest of plenty.

Blessed are those who know that their worship would be better not livestreamed yet
for they know that they need to concentrate on renewing their in-person worship first.

Blessed are you when people make snarky comments about your livestream
for they are telling you they want it to be better for the honour and the glory of the Lord our God.

beatitudes, churches, livestream, online worship

5 responses to “Young Church Noticeboard”

Jaye Richards-Hill

09/09/2013

A truly heutagogical approach. Now ask them *how* they might go about finding the answers to their questions…

Reply
1. Kelvin
  
  10/09/2013
  
  September 10, 2013 at 10:32 am (Edit)
  
  Jaye – yes indeed and that’s a great supplementary question.
  
  It is significant, I think, that some of us in leadership at St Mary’s have been influenced by Paolo Freire and Ivan Illich, never mind some early experiment in omni-centred theological learning across Scotland. We talk about these things in the office when we are designing processes. How exciting it is to find good examples breaking out in other parts of cathedral life like this where we’ve not planned it.
  
  That’s what is supposed to happen.
  
  Reply
Seph

09/09/2013

I imagine a talk about the bells could be arranged.

Reply
Rosemary Hannah

09/09/2013

Um, I imagine they want a bit more bell than a talk about bells.

Reply
Augur Pearce

09/09/2013

Although the handwriting suggests a single scribe, I suspect source criticism may point to more than one contributor. And instead of leaping (with those who ‘spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new’) straight to the final question, I’m rather reassured to see that the remaining questioners’ interest is more in church history or how things work.

One could combine the first and last questions as ‘Has what happens when you die changed?’. (possible answer: ‘Once you didn’t die at all, but that was before the Fall and a long time ago. Then you went either to a place of torment or to Abraham’s bosom. Then some time in the Dark Ages the options of Limbo and Purgatory became available, but these were closed to new protestant applicants at or soon after the Reformation. For a while after hell was abolished, everyone went to Abraham’s bosom; but now there seems to be the alternative future of total oblivion.’)

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