Disruption and Grace: Learning Edges in Liminal Times
The events that began early in 2020 could not be better described than “disruption”. Within the Body of Christ, all of the familiar rhythms, patterns, and routines of our worship lives were disrupted with hurdles, stalls, and stutters as we faced the challenge of worshipping without physically being together.
As the reality of the pandemic set in, communities began to find ways to be together and to experiment with their worship so that it could continue at a physical distance. Many early efforts were to replicate in-person, in-building worship in new ways: from cars in parking lots; at great distances in parks or yards; on telephone conference calls; in online meeting platforms. Before long, these “new places” for worship began to open fresh possibilities for how we worship together, to explore different facets of what our worship means, and to highlight the uncomfortable limits of our experience and encourage us to grow: Grace offered in the midst of the disruption.
This conference is all about exploring the disruptions and the graces we have experienced in the current pandemic and other unsettling circumstances. What have we learned from these experiences? How has our worship been transformed? What new possibilities are on the horizon? What lessons have we learned journeying through these liminal times?