If not yet, you might already be thinking, 'great yet another ZOOM meeting for work', I need that like I need a hole in the head. But something more pernicious will also take place. That weariness will carry over into our faith engagements. The magic, the delight of being able to meet with people to share your faith, to pray and connect, will become just one more thing to do online. Why? Because there is something, we have not yet learned to do.

I thank God for the resources that the wider church is producing, and those outside the church to navigate COVID-19. I’ve managed to catch my breath today after two weeks of non-stop 14 hour or more days. I took time this morning to compile all the key resources I have found and used. I’d love to know what you have found helpful?

It has certainly been a steep learning curve to move Sundays to online live streaming online spaces. But as we have moved our regular points of contact into the virtual, we have found something that we already knew. Our Church was already far more than a Sunday service or a building. We have not made a new community or type of Church. But in more of the virtual, we have found and reconnected to what was already there. And the truth is many of the churches I know are experiencing the same. Their collective life, mission and purpose was already far more than a meeting. Like a family that discovers their life in common is far more than the house they pay for and live in. In other words, you can't take your Church online unless there was already a church outside of your meetings in the first place. For many of us, isolation has led to more talking and connections not less.

When calamity overwhelms us trusting God is far harder. We are in good company at such times. For in the bible, we see moments when global events overrun everyone, and the people together cry out to God - where are you, why is this happening to us?

Fear, anxiety, and heaviness of heart will be amplified by what we give our attention to. In the western world, we have already been distracted for far too long. Now is the time, this moment of crises is an opportunity to break free from the captivity of our perpetual diversions.

It does not take long in life to realise those we idolise, our heroes, can let us down spectacularly. From our parents to teachers, to sports stars and celebrities, and also our friends. We forget at our peril that these people have feet of clay. Yet some fail us who should not. Who they are and what they represent demands a higher standard and expectation. And when they fail, we are rocked. The ground of our being shaken where our faith and belief in them has been utterly betrayed.

In the face of online anger, being silent in totality cannot be an option. Not participating in the underlying machinations taking place is key for sure. But like many of my friends, being reduced to silence, feeling unable to comment on anything publicly cannot be right. So how might we understand what is happening, so that we might then know when to comment if at all? And how might we do so in a better and more life-giving way?

Maybe the greatest scandal of Christianity might be Jesus' claim that you are not free to be whoever you want to be

This Sunday service talk was a distillation of my articles on what is at stake for Christians who have given up on church. Church matters in a world where we are told more and more that it does not. The reasons might surprise you.

This audio interview charts the abuse of my childhood into the rescue that came with meeting Jesus - of how reading the Chronicles of Narnia helped me escape, but also to then come to faith.

It is part 1, of an oral history interview project with Dr Simon Machin, about my life - mapping how my journey into faith also shaped my ministry and research interests of today, and in particular, my passion for Christians to rediscover the need for being the Church.