Our livestream service began as a way for us to remain connected during COVID, when gathering as a body was either suspended or limited. Now that restrictions have been lifted, we have started ending our livestream after our weekly announcements, about 2/3 of the way through our Sunday liturgy.

We want to emphasize that it is much better to be with the church in person, whether it is with Christ Our Hope or another body. Church cannot truly be experienced online, because it is not something that we do; church is something that we are.

Those who join us online will be able to participate in the Liturgy of the Word, the portion of our service that focuses on the reading of scripture and its public proclamation. But we are a people who gather around the Table to share in the hope we have in Christ — and that means physically gathering. An online service is no real substitute for physically receiving the body and blood of Christ at the Eucharist and being made into the body of Christ by our participation in these holy mysteries alongside our brothers and sisters.

If you have been tuning into Christ Our Hope's services from afar, we hope you will receive this change as an invitation to join us in person soon. And if you cannot, we hope that you are joining with some other local church as Christ's body. If you are home sick on a Sunday, we hope that you will reach out to our priest to bring you some of the reserved Eucharist so that you can touch and taste the mystery of our union in the Spirit even when we cannot be together.