Exile or Exodus?

April 6, 2021

Notes and reflections from Spring Harvest 2021 : UNRIVALLED

It was Spring Harvest’s late night panel discussion about church, COVID and what happens next. The question was asked: should we see this current season as an Exile or an Exodus?

Exile refers to the period in the Old Testament when many of God’s people were forced out of Jerusalem. They found themselves far away, and asked: “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land.” Those are words from Psalm 137, made popular by Boney M in the late 1970s. The people longed to return to the place where they used to gather to worship – a strong desire to get back to normality.

Exodus refers to the time when God lead His people out from slavery in Egypt (the ‘exit’) and towards a new future in the Promised Land. The journey was difficult and at many times, through rose-tinted glasses, they declared a preference for the good old days of free fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic back in Egypt (Numbers 11:5). On the threshold of this new future they stubbornly refused to enter, and so spent 40 years wandering round in circles.

So asking whether we should see this current season as an Exile or an Exodus …well, that’s an interesting question!

But the question was only raised towards the end of the panel discussion. Prior to that we heard stories from individuals and churches about how the lockdown had affected them: how they had changed and adapted; made Sunday worship available; used Facebook and YouTube and Zoom; and seized opportunities to serve their communities in a time of need.

And then there was the online chat among the audience. Several themes stood out for me in those dicussions.

• Online church is a safe place for new people to dip a toe in the water, finding out what church is like without the awkwardness of having to walk into a room of strangers. It’s a lower threshold of accessibility, one less barrier to cross. Many churches had established new connections with new people. In one church more than a third had invited others along to church online …because that was so easy to do. Evangelism and enquiry was a positive benefit of going online during lockdown.

• There was a bitter-sweet thread for people with disabilities. When churches went oneline they had become far more accessible overnight. People who had struggled to attend services were suddenly able to be present just like everyone else. But now there was a growing anxiety. Having been enabled to join in, would they soon find themselves once again overlooked, forgotten by others in the excitement of getting ‘back to normal’?

• And there was quite a discussion about communion (or the lack of it), which was so strongly dependent on the particular denomination that people were involved with. Some have not taken communion at all over the past year because a Priest could not be present to lead it, or their denomination would not allow it over Zoom. Others have been receiving at home, alone, led by a recording over the internet. It would be so easy for any one group to be dismissive of others’ situations. But for me it was a reminder that individuals and congregations have all had very different experiences over the past year, and that we need to be gracious, understanding and towards one another’s situation.

And what about the Exodus v. Exile question? Well, I hope this is an Exodus. I hope that the church sees this as an opportunity to take a step of faith into God’s future rather than retreating to the comfortable ‘normality’ of the past. And I especially hope that churches do not abandon the evangelistic opportunity and the accessibility benefits of making worship available online.