THANKS FOR COMING TODAY! I’ve been busy all day prepping a talk about how gratitude relocates us in time and in our bodies — that talk fits in the larger discussion of pandemic dislocation (which is really another name for “pandemic trauma”).
Take a breath. Settle in. Let’s be present for one another.
Just a reminder of the four dislocations I shared in the essay, below so you don’t have to click back to the original.
We’ve been dislocated in four major ways:
1) Temporal dislocation
We’ve lost our sense of time as it existed before the pandemic. How often have you thought: What day is this? What time is it? Did I miss an event? What month is it? That’s temporal dislocation.
2) Historical dislocation
We’ve lost our sense of where we are in the larger story of both our own lives and our communal stories. History has been disrupted. Where are we? Where are we going? The growth of conspiracy theories, the intensity of social media, political and religious “deconstructions” – these are signs of a culture seeking a meaningful story to frame their lives because older stories have failed. That’s historical dislocation.
3) Physical dislocation
We’ve lost our sense of embodiment with others and geographical location. For millions, technology has moved “physicality” into cyber-space and most of us have no idea what to do with this virtual sense of location. Without our familiar sense of being bodily in specific spaces, things like gardening, baking, sewing, and painting have emerged as ways of feeling the ground and the work of our hands. We’ve striven to maintain some sort of embodiment even amid isolation. But the disconnection between our bodies, places, and other bodies has been profound. That’s physical dislocation.
4) Relational dislocation
We’ve lost our daily habits of interactions with other humans, the expression of emotions together in community. Have you worried you won’t know how to respond when you can be with your friends without distance, with no masks? How it will feel to be in large groups again? How will work or school feel back in person, with others at the next desk or waiting on customers face-to-face, or in the first in-person meeting? What happens when the plexiglass comes down, the mask is off? That’s relational dislocation.
With these dislocations in mind, the task comes into focus. Surely, religious communities need to be about the work of relocation – finding what has been lost, repairing what has been broken, and re-grounding people into their own lives and communities.
Well, friends, I've got to move on to my next thing today! I'm leading a weekend retreat for Trinity Wall Street (NYC) tonight and tomorrow. Thanks for the great questions! The thread remains up at the Cottage - you can go back and re-read, pick up the links, and perhaps even email those who posted their addresses. You are all great to experiment with this kind of chat! It can be an informative and fun way to back-and-forth here. Blessings and peace to you! AND THANKS TO YOU ALL for your support. Hope you found a little challenge and some joy by being here today.
I just want to hang out with all you lovely people forever! Thank you thank you DBB for this time and for forever sharing your wisdom. Your writing has been a source of sustenance in my ministry and I don't know how I would've gotten through the last year without your The Cottage writings.
I’m in Vancouver on unceded traditional First Nations territory. a very secular pluralistic city in secular country unlike the US. Context matters. The pandemic pause has been clarifying and revealing. Who has been imaginative, adaptable and relevant and who has not? I’m more aware of the embedded imperialism of colonial settler churches. Can’t unknow the complicity of the church in the attempts to obliterate First Nations.
Traditions like Anglicanism which defines itself almost entirely by liturgy seems irrelevant to me now having done very well indeed without it.
Practices like gratefulness and earth based rituals transcend the many troubling bits of Christian practice.
BTW, just started reading Freeing Jesus. Really appreciate the focus on what we learn from children in the "friend" chapter. As a pastor and mom of an 11 year old, I wonder what the church can offer children and youth. Of course many churches have continued to provide opportunities to engage and connect during the pandemic. But specifically thinking about the "pandemic examen" and how we might provide space for them to process/share, etc. Kids have a lot to say and we need to listen.
This comment is from a thread -- wanted to pull it out so more people will see it: I've been encouraging people to do a "pandemic examen" - take the steps of the Jesuit examen (https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-prayer/the-examen/) and apply them to the pandemic year.
From my perspective the historical dislocation has made many congregations more sensitive to imagining what has been considered appropriate behavior.
My congregation is much more concerned about structural marginalization than they were in the past, particularly around race and issues surrounding land appropriation.
May 7, 2021Liked by Richard Bass, Diana Butler Bass
We’ve opened a half-acre Urban Farm on our church property to help alleviate the isolation many in our community are feeling. Most who come out to help are not church-attenders. They just want to help reclaim part of the city for gardening. They’re using a lasagna-bed model - plots 8’ x 4’. I tell them it looks like we’ve buried several deacons, so I hope there’s room to bury some more!
Of all the conversations that I'm looking forward to, the one I might be fearing the most is when I bring up the idea of allowing the pastor (aka me) to work from home once we're "back" with some kind of regular "office hours" but not being in the building whenever the church secretary is there just because some people have only known/experienced "Well, if we have a pastor, of _course_ they'll be at the church unless they're at the hospital/nursing home/etc."
But there are some very useful benefits to WFH, even for pastors! I just hope some of my "more traditional" folks will be able to see that!
deep sigh... I am legally blind and this is very confusing, so forgive me if somehow I should be elsewhere. Part of the reason I like zoom better than in person is that since I have been doing some serious deconstruction and examining what still makes sense to me now... means that at the Anglican church, I am not fed by a lot of the liturgy but I like the sermon. At home, I have the zoom on but I mute the music etc. If I were in person, putting on my headphones would be obvious and seem rude.
One of the bigger lessons we learned during the pandemic is how much our earth needed a break from all of our pollution and disregard. How might we as churches engage this issue? How can we help our congregations face the fact that we all, to some degree or another, participate in this system of waste and pollution? Is the answer to go solar, erect gardens, start composting, and recycling to the max? Should we strive for carbon neutrality? How might this effort allow our churches to become beacons of sustainability and lead by example? We could throw some rad parties and worship services in the garden... powered by solar of course.
With weakened immunity (and vaccine possibly not as effective for me) due to chronic illness, I can't go back to my church anytime soon (no online option). I'm not sure I want to anymore, honestly. I'm wondering if anyone else has felt excluded from pre-pandemic spaces and how to move on with love and forgiveness when the hurt continues on a regular basis? Relational dislocation is definitely what is happening here. Some of the insistence on ignoring the pandemic precautions comes from spaces I can just avoid, but much of it is from family and spaces I have to enter. I don't know what to do with any of this. The "Jesus" spaces are among the most dangerous for people like me to enter in my community. I'm struggling to connect with new people online. Where does one begin to plug in virtually to somewhere they have never been physically? Especially when one is an introvert? :)
The pandemic shut down definitely changed my sense about the relationship to one of my churches. It helped me realize the importance of some sort of space to serve as a “container” for our collective experiences. I’ve watched many many churches who originally eschewed owning a “space” and being more “embedded in the community” come to a realization that they want a space they can name as theirs. The tension I think we live with is making our buildings more accessible to the community. How will that impact a space that we spend time caring for? And for those of us who’ve been able to worship online and have people all over the country/world...how do they receive inclusion in a “space”? I also think some of this sense of space is impacted by the temporal and relational dislocation. People are able to participate (or not participate) in worship online at their leisure and often with no real interaction with people during that service. It’s a different kind of togetherness and I am currently feeling ill equipped to know how to navigate through this
Hello! Greetings from Wahoo! Nebraska. How important do you think it is it to offer opportunities for small group listening/sharing experiences from the last 15 months as a way of helping people reconnect in our church? It seems like a good place to start??
Really appreciate this conversation. When I first read this blog on the 4 dislocations, I began thinking sermon series. The time thing still gets me - school/work/life/everything blends together more and more....never have I felt the need to observe Sabbath more. A whole day set apart that's different than the others.
I joined a weekly Zoom group with about 10 people from the East Coast when the pandemic started. We "attend" a Sunday service in NYC via Zoom then discuss the sermons on Thursday night. I've been a Christian for 50 years but I feel more connected to these people than I have in most small groups I've attended over the past 20 years. We have grown into a family - we pray for each other, laugh together, connect through the week via texts, phone, etc. Most of us are searching for a church and we're not sure what to do. Our virtual church will continue thru 2021 but after that? We were actually discussing this last night. Is anyone else experiencing this?
I read in one of Heidi Campbell's e-books something along the lines of 'the reformation has brought us communion in both elements, the pandemic has brought us the virtual communion'. How much have we missed communion/worship in person? How much will we remember the emotions, the discussions, and the thoughts we have experienced in the past year? Where will (according to the blog posting here) new relationship- /physical- / historical- developments lead us to? Are we truly open, adventures to continue exploring new forms? Maybe we are too tired to adapt to even more change due to the temporal dislocation?
Rather than talking about "religion" after pandemic, I'd say my faith practices will change. I zoom into my old church miles and miles away and I only want to hear the sermon from my community close by. I don't want to go back to the in person meeting for sunday morning anyway.
Hi Diana! Thanks for putting this together. I'm a big fan. Your book "Grounded" was inspirational for me when I was an undergraduate student at Wartburg College. Also, I enjoyed your appearance on the Homebrewed Christianity episode a while ago. As an aspiring military chaplain who is now in seminary, where do you see the role of chaplaincy heading as religious affiliation continues to decrease. Might that be a more viable option for those wanting to reach those whom we considered nuns or unaffiliated?
A number of you are asking about church buildings and land post-pandemic. Check out Carolyn Wetzel's thread below. I'd love you to jump in there if you are thinking about PLACE.
I'm worried about robust but small churches like mine (involved in affordable housing and with a big community garden) not being able to be all things to all people like larger congregations will. Will relationships (which we've focused on) be enough? Besides continuing streaming worship, what should we our focus be regarding online presence? And can't congregations work together more? How can ecumenism and collaboration help us introduce people to Jesus?
Regarding work on "relocation" My congregation (First Presbyterian, Ashland OR) was at an interesting crossroads just before the pandemic. We had been in discussion on the "what next" question. After a 2 year process to study and discuss, we ended up with a tie vote for moving towards downsizing or staying put for a bit longer. Then suddenly everything closed down.
The pandemic made the impossible become more possible: Since the building wasn't being used, the entire fellowship building was turned over for a Winter Shelter for 5 months.
Now it's not so scary to consider letting go of that space .... is it really needed for coffee hour on Sunday mornings.
I'm interested in the challenge of historical dislocation. Many people are looking for a new story in some pretty scary places. Our story is very old and more and more people are disinclined to take it seriously. How do we retell it in a way that meets the challenges of the day so it can offer us a better future?
Hello Diana! TJ from Plattsburgh, NY here. With so much uncertainty all around us, how do we discern / figure out where to go from here? I don’t want to lose the opportunity of doing a “new thing” as we hopefully start to come out of COVID-19, but I’m also not sure of what “new thing” would be a good fit to pursue! So… where do we begin?
I’ve asked my congregation - what if one of the greatest lessons we need to learn from Covid is the sentiment expressed in the words of the old Eagles’ song LEARN TO BE STILL. Enough of the frenzied pace we all maintain already, LEARN TO BE STILL.
Hi from Austin, Texas! Your blog on these four dislocations really has me thinking. When I think of the physical piece, I'm especially wondering how the work of the church might continue to evolve and transform. Specifically, I'm moving back to a local church appointment after years of serving in more administrative roles and the congregation I'll be serving will not return to in-person worship until late summer. And so, pondering so much - such as how we are together physically (how does this speak to our embodied sense of theology, what is different, etc) and the changing role of church buildings (do we need all this space? or will we use it in the same way?)
My church is surely going to retain "The Bigger Balcony" online church services even after we have in-person church again. The Bigger Balcony will still serve--those who can't get to church, those who tune in from afar, and more.
I have been thinking a lot about physical dislocation, as a part of the re-opening committee at our church. An interesting side effect of the "all virtual" services, we have gained members in the last year from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Montana...and they will never darken the door of our building. Even though we are physically separated, we are still a community. Are you hearing any other stories like that around the nation?
Greetings from Portland OR. My focus has been on being grateful, I know many are hurting and many times is difficult to see the "good" within a terrible situation, but this is where faith comes to help.
This is such a helpful analysis. For many of us we are striving to do what Susan Beaumont describes in her book - How to Lead When You Don't know Where you're Going
I agree the question "What do you think is going to happen with churches after the pandemic?" cannot be currently answered.
From a church historian’s perspective, how have churches in the past generally dealt with these dislocations from their pandemics? Do their spiritual understandings tend to dramatically change?
I’m attempting to insist that our church use Covid to craft a newer more relevant definition of “ministry”
Well, friends, I've got to move on to my next thing today! I'm leading a weekend retreat for Trinity Wall Street (NYC) tonight and tomorrow. Thanks for the great questions! The thread remains up at the Cottage - you can go back and re-read, pick up the links, and perhaps even email those who posted their addresses. You are all great to experiment with this kind of chat! It can be an informative and fun way to back-and-forth here. Blessings and peace to you! AND THANKS TO YOU ALL for your support. Hope you found a little challenge and some joy by being here today.
I just want to hang out with all you lovely people forever! Thank you thank you DBB for this time and for forever sharing your wisdom. Your writing has been a source of sustenance in my ministry and I don't know how I would've gotten through the last year without your The Cottage writings.
I’m in Vancouver on unceded traditional First Nations territory. a very secular pluralistic city in secular country unlike the US. Context matters. The pandemic pause has been clarifying and revealing. Who has been imaginative, adaptable and relevant and who has not? I’m more aware of the embedded imperialism of colonial settler churches. Can’t unknow the complicity of the church in the attempts to obliterate First Nations.
Traditions like Anglicanism which defines itself almost entirely by liturgy seems irrelevant to me now having done very well indeed without it.
Practices like gratefulness and earth based rituals transcend the many troubling bits of Christian practice.
BTW, just started reading Freeing Jesus. Really appreciate the focus on what we learn from children in the "friend" chapter. As a pastor and mom of an 11 year old, I wonder what the church can offer children and youth. Of course many churches have continued to provide opportunities to engage and connect during the pandemic. But specifically thinking about the "pandemic examen" and how we might provide space for them to process/share, etc. Kids have a lot to say and we need to listen.
This comment is from a thread -- wanted to pull it out so more people will see it: I've been encouraging people to do a "pandemic examen" - take the steps of the Jesuit examen (https://www.ignatianspirituality.com/ignatian-prayer/the-examen/) and apply them to the pandemic year.
From my perspective the historical dislocation has made many congregations more sensitive to imagining what has been considered appropriate behavior.
My congregation is much more concerned about structural marginalization than they were in the past, particularly around race and issues surrounding land appropriation.
We’ve opened a half-acre Urban Farm on our church property to help alleviate the isolation many in our community are feeling. Most who come out to help are not church-attenders. They just want to help reclaim part of the city for gardening. They’re using a lasagna-bed model - plots 8’ x 4’. I tell them it looks like we’ve buried several deacons, so I hope there’s room to bury some more!
Of all the conversations that I'm looking forward to, the one I might be fearing the most is when I bring up the idea of allowing the pastor (aka me) to work from home once we're "back" with some kind of regular "office hours" but not being in the building whenever the church secretary is there just because some people have only known/experienced "Well, if we have a pastor, of _course_ they'll be at the church unless they're at the hospital/nursing home/etc."
But there are some very useful benefits to WFH, even for pastors! I just hope some of my "more traditional" folks will be able to see that!
deep sigh... I am legally blind and this is very confusing, so forgive me if somehow I should be elsewhere. Part of the reason I like zoom better than in person is that since I have been doing some serious deconstruction and examining what still makes sense to me now... means that at the Anglican church, I am not fed by a lot of the liturgy but I like the sermon. At home, I have the zoom on but I mute the music etc. If I were in person, putting on my headphones would be obvious and seem rude.
One of the bigger lessons we learned during the pandemic is how much our earth needed a break from all of our pollution and disregard. How might we as churches engage this issue? How can we help our congregations face the fact that we all, to some degree or another, participate in this system of waste and pollution? Is the answer to go solar, erect gardens, start composting, and recycling to the max? Should we strive for carbon neutrality? How might this effort allow our churches to become beacons of sustainability and lead by example? We could throw some rad parties and worship services in the garden... powered by solar of course.
With weakened immunity (and vaccine possibly not as effective for me) due to chronic illness, I can't go back to my church anytime soon (no online option). I'm not sure I want to anymore, honestly. I'm wondering if anyone else has felt excluded from pre-pandemic spaces and how to move on with love and forgiveness when the hurt continues on a regular basis? Relational dislocation is definitely what is happening here. Some of the insistence on ignoring the pandemic precautions comes from spaces I can just avoid, but much of it is from family and spaces I have to enter. I don't know what to do with any of this. The "Jesus" spaces are among the most dangerous for people like me to enter in my community. I'm struggling to connect with new people online. Where does one begin to plug in virtually to somewhere they have never been physically? Especially when one is an introvert? :)
I can attest to temporal dislocation. When everything is online, day merges into day.
The pandemic shut down definitely changed my sense about the relationship to one of my churches. It helped me realize the importance of some sort of space to serve as a “container” for our collective experiences. I’ve watched many many churches who originally eschewed owning a “space” and being more “embedded in the community” come to a realization that they want a space they can name as theirs. The tension I think we live with is making our buildings more accessible to the community. How will that impact a space that we spend time caring for? And for those of us who’ve been able to worship online and have people all over the country/world...how do they receive inclusion in a “space”? I also think some of this sense of space is impacted by the temporal and relational dislocation. People are able to participate (or not participate) in worship online at their leisure and often with no real interaction with people during that service. It’s a different kind of togetherness and I am currently feeling ill equipped to know how to navigate through this
Will these conversations be available after this is over? Would love for pastor to read these.
Hello! Greetings from Wahoo! Nebraska. How important do you think it is it to offer opportunities for small group listening/sharing experiences from the last 15 months as a way of helping people reconnect in our church? It seems like a good place to start??
Really appreciate this conversation. When I first read this blog on the 4 dislocations, I began thinking sermon series. The time thing still gets me - school/work/life/everything blends together more and more....never have I felt the need to observe Sabbath more. A whole day set apart that's different than the others.
Gotta go- grandkids need me....thanks to all, see you next time!
I joined a weekly Zoom group with about 10 people from the East Coast when the pandemic started. We "attend" a Sunday service in NYC via Zoom then discuss the sermons on Thursday night. I've been a Christian for 50 years but I feel more connected to these people than I have in most small groups I've attended over the past 20 years. We have grown into a family - we pray for each other, laugh together, connect through the week via texts, phone, etc. Most of us are searching for a church and we're not sure what to do. Our virtual church will continue thru 2021 but after that? We were actually discussing this last night. Is anyone else experiencing this?
I read in one of Heidi Campbell's e-books something along the lines of 'the reformation has brought us communion in both elements, the pandemic has brought us the virtual communion'. How much have we missed communion/worship in person? How much will we remember the emotions, the discussions, and the thoughts we have experienced in the past year? Where will (according to the blog posting here) new relationship- /physical- / historical- developments lead us to? Are we truly open, adventures to continue exploring new forms? Maybe we are too tired to adapt to even more change due to the temporal dislocation?
Rather than talking about "religion" after pandemic, I'd say my faith practices will change. I zoom into my old church miles and miles away and I only want to hear the sermon from my community close by. I don't want to go back to the in person meeting for sunday morning anyway.
Hi Diana! Thanks for putting this together. I'm a big fan. Your book "Grounded" was inspirational for me when I was an undergraduate student at Wartburg College. Also, I enjoyed your appearance on the Homebrewed Christianity episode a while ago. As an aspiring military chaplain who is now in seminary, where do you see the role of chaplaincy heading as religious affiliation continues to decrease. Might that be a more viable option for those wanting to reach those whom we considered nuns or unaffiliated?
The Cathedral of Hope, UCC revamped the sanctuary during the closed time. Now it's more functional for other events.
A number of you are asking about church buildings and land post-pandemic. Check out Carolyn Wetzel's thread below. I'd love you to jump in there if you are thinking about PLACE.
This is Jenna from Indiana. I'm new. Enjoying the good thoughts and questions.
I'm worried about robust but small churches like mine (involved in affordable housing and with a big community garden) not being able to be all things to all people like larger congregations will. Will relationships (which we've focused on) be enough? Besides continuing streaming worship, what should we our focus be regarding online presence? And can't congregations work together more? How can ecumenism and collaboration help us introduce people to Jesus?
Regarding work on "relocation" My congregation (First Presbyterian, Ashland OR) was at an interesting crossroads just before the pandemic. We had been in discussion on the "what next" question. After a 2 year process to study and discuss, we ended up with a tie vote for moving towards downsizing or staying put for a bit longer. Then suddenly everything closed down.
The pandemic made the impossible become more possible: Since the building wasn't being used, the entire fellowship building was turned over for a Winter Shelter for 5 months.
Now it's not so scary to consider letting go of that space .... is it really needed for coffee hour on Sunday mornings.
I'm interested in the challenge of historical dislocation. Many people are looking for a new story in some pretty scary places. Our story is very old and more and more people are disinclined to take it seriously. How do we retell it in a way that meets the challenges of the day so it can offer us a better future?
Hello Diana! TJ from Plattsburgh, NY here. With so much uncertainty all around us, how do we discern / figure out where to go from here? I don’t want to lose the opportunity of doing a “new thing” as we hopefully start to come out of COVID-19, but I’m also not sure of what “new thing” would be a good fit to pursue! So… where do we begin?
I’ve asked my congregation - what if one of the greatest lessons we need to learn from Covid is the sentiment expressed in the words of the old Eagles’ song LEARN TO BE STILL. Enough of the frenzied pace we all maintain already, LEARN TO BE STILL.
Hello, everyone. Zephyrhills FL here.
Hi from Austin, Texas! Your blog on these four dislocations really has me thinking. When I think of the physical piece, I'm especially wondering how the work of the church might continue to evolve and transform. Specifically, I'm moving back to a local church appointment after years of serving in more administrative roles and the congregation I'll be serving will not return to in-person worship until late summer. And so, pondering so much - such as how we are together physically (how does this speak to our embodied sense of theology, what is different, etc) and the changing role of church buildings (do we need all this space? or will we use it in the same way?)
My church is surely going to retain "The Bigger Balcony" online church services even after we have in-person church again. The Bigger Balcony will still serve--those who can't get to church, those who tune in from afar, and more.
Hi Diana! I just finished Freeing Jesus last night. I felt so seen. I've recommended it to friends and intend to read it again. Thank you.
Do you know what happened spiritually after the last big pandemic in the US 100 years ago?
I have been thinking a lot about physical dislocation, as a part of the re-opening committee at our church. An interesting side effect of the "all virtual" services, we have gained members in the last year from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Montana...and they will never darken the door of our building. Even though we are physically separated, we are still a community. Are you hearing any other stories like that around the nation?
Greetings from Portland OR. My focus has been on being grateful, I know many are hurting and many times is difficult to see the "good" within a terrible situation, but this is where faith comes to help.
Glad to be here. Good afternoon belovedes!
Good morning, Diana!!!! (Afternoon.....)
This is such a helpful analysis. For many of us we are striving to do what Susan Beaumont describes in her book - How to Lead When You Don't know Where you're Going
Hi, Diana Butler Bass and all, from Jean in Bellingham, WA
Good afternoon Diana,
I agree the question "What do you think is going to happen with churches after the pandemic?" cannot be currently answered.
From a church historian’s perspective, how have churches in the past generally dealt with these dislocations from their pandemics? Do their spiritual understandings tend to dramatically change?
Hi Cottegers! We're open now!