When physical church was still open, you got a chance to see  a worship leader, in real time, wipe away a stubborn fly. 

Yes, we also noticed the preacher’s awkwardness when he lost his line of thought, or his sentence. (Some of you went further to evaluate your neighbor’s musical voice) 

We gasped at such, but by faith, still remembered and perhaps said to ourselves, ” nobody, save for Christ, is perfect after all.” In other words, our imperfections amidst gathered worship reminded and gave us a chance to ponder a perfect savior. And so, in that sense, our genuine sacrifice of praise, our sometimes out-of-tune worship, rose  authentically, from this broken and sinful, yet loved and redeemed people.

But now, oh but now. 

The Pastor now has an opportunity to become a producer too (or stand behind one while he does his edits) Church staff can now crop out the awkward. But is worship still true if it is seamless, If our brokenness has visual effects? 

Jesus came for the sick (Mark 2:17) but what if Mr Producer thinks some “sick” clip needs to be cut before uploading? Do we then still have gathered worship, or mere production, are we still fronting true piety or performance? 

The temptation when you go online anywhere in the world is to posture, to present an impression you want others to see, edit buttons and filters exist for that reason. 

And now that church is increasingly happening online, the question becomes, how much of our true selves shall we bring along, Should confession of sin, for example, also wait up to when “things open up”?

When I’ve shared the word a few times online , I’ve caught myself asking the “producer”, “how did it go?” I am not sure I was asking how God was glorified in my preaching. I fear my pre-occupation may have been about form, rather than substance.
 
Maybe, rather than wondering how we performed online, we should rest and leave it all in the hands of God, who unlike man, “looks not on outward appearances, but the heart.” (1 Sam 16:7)

After Jesus discusses the reality of living water with the Samaritan woman in John 4, he raises the standard of worship. True worship will now consist, not of visible realities like the Samaritan mountain, Gerizim, (John 4:20) but invisible realities like “worshipping in truth and spirit.” (4:23-24)  

Now, the real question is whether online church (with all its advantages and convenience) amplifies or belittles that all-important reality. 

Or put differently, when Church went online, did true worship come along?