It would seem like an obvious insight to recognize that watching a church service on a screen (whether in real time, or delayed) just is not attending or participating in church.
For catholics there can be no 'real presence' when there is no real bread or wine; for protestants there is no gathering when people are not gathered.
A church that is virtual is not a church. When there is no church, the church has ceased. When there is no assurance that it will resume; the church has ended.
This is - more-or-less, substantially - the situation, all over the world. The Christian churches (along with nearly all other churches) have stopped.
Of course, the bureaucratic structures remain, the personnel are still there, the buildings are still there; but the churches ended last year.
The birdemic has almost wiped-out church-Christianity - and replaced it with either nothing; or movies of services and social media chat-rooms.
Will churches return? Maybe, but when there is no acknowledgement that they substantially have-ended; when the leaders and members seem only mildly concerned at the situation; there seems not much likelihood that the organizations will resume activity as churches.
Christians live in a post-church world. Here. Now...
Any Christian who regards his church as essential to salvation is not going to be able to remain a Christian; or else he will need to rebuild his church from the ruins (and with mostly new personnel).
Yet even such a simple, obvious and (surely?) undeniable fact, seems beyond the capacity for insight and thought of modern people.
