The closing of churches over the past year has prompted many Christians to reflect on the importance of regular worship, and to debate the role of online services. The consensus is that the natural and proper form that religion takes is people congregating in church buildings.
I want to dissent, or half-dissent, from this. Not because I am a fan of online events, far from it. Rather, I want to question the assumption that real worship can only happen inside churches. It overlooks the fact that worship can also occur outdoors. Maybe the aftermath of the pandemic will be a time for some out-of-the-box thinking (literally) about this.
