Church should be an analog oasis in the midst of a digital desert. A community and place where one can rest from the demands of Facebook likes, instant at-replies, and false-front Instagram lives. Where not everything is designed to sell something via spectacle. The values of our culture are skimming the information overflow, pixel-perfect check-ins, and sensory bombardment. We know that this produces materialism, shorter attention spans, and a culture of shallowness.

Maybe we need a place where can take a break from it all…where we can leave our phones at the door, and drink deeply of Living Water without the distraction of a social stream. Maybe we need silence and renewal of communal contemplation in our shared worship experience. Perhaps a thoughtful, theologically-meaningful engagement of the senses is called for over the brute-force light and sound often hurled at us with all the subtlety of the stereotypical steam engine.

Perhaps this kind of “disconnected” worship could actually allow for a deeper communion with God, and with each other. We could begin to look beyond the over-saturated internet persona of our brothers and sisters, and better bear with one another as we strive toward perfect union with Christ.