I wonder if it is possible to pass a whole day without meeting anyone? I don't mean by hiding behind the sofa, or staying under the duvet, I mean passing a day getting things done, like working, shopping, banking, catching a train. Many of us can work from home now, so that's easily achieved, we can pass through the self checkouts at the supermarkets, do our banking and book train tickets online, so not meeting anyone and getting things done does seem possible. On the off chance someone comes by we can stare into the screens on our phones. It can be more convenient to live this way, so long as the tech works, and people can be difficult, smelly, and have germs, but it is a big step for a social animal like humans to leave the pack.
We recently went to a pub to spend a gift voucher. The young man who greeted us said we were to order at the table on the app. I told him I'd seen the menu and knew want I wanted, so why couldn't I just tell him? He explained that wasn't the system, but as I'd told him he'd see what he could do. Perhaps it would be easier to fit in, but I enjoy meeting people, with all their quirks, and kindness, and frailties, and flaws, and joys. I would rather talk to someone than use an app. Anyway, most of what I ordered arrived, but not all. Perhaps I should have used the app.
The New Testament Greek word for 'church' is 'ecclesia', meaning a 'gathering of those called.' So the church is about people getting together in the same place. People with all their quirks, and kindness, and frailties, and flaws, and joys. We have learnt in recent years we can usefully supplement this with online acts of worship, but 'ecclesia' can't be done on an app. You have to be there. For an hour a week to sing, and pray, and listen, and think, in the company of God and His people, and in the Parishes of the Welland Foss Benefice, in the most wonderful and inspiring medieval buildings. Stone buildings created by community and history, not by AI. I suspect in the future the church is going to seem even more out dated than it does now, and that won't necessarily be a bad thing. As it says in the window of Little Gidding Church, "It is the right, good, old way you are in, keep in it."
