Face to Face
D uring lockdown I rather enjoyed watching church services online while lounging in my bathrobe, sipping coffee, Being something of a spiritual butterfly, If something failed to hold my interest, I could surf the web in search of better music or something slicker and more engaging . In other words, it was governed by mood or emotional engagement, not by any semblance of discipline or responsibility. Which was fun. For a time. But, the sheer volume of the religious smorgasbord on offer was itself an invitation to laziness. In the U.K , church attendance averages less than 6 % of the population. The late poet R. S. Thomas, a priest in the Church of Wales, called himself “a vicar of large things in a small parish.” Yet, a quarter of British adults watched or listened to a religious service during the coronavirus lockdown, and one in twenty started praying during th at crisis. I’ve had a checkered history with the church....