The image above is taken from our 11:00am Divine Service this past Sunday - the second try for our livestream of the day. At the 9:30am Divine Service, the one we usually stream on Sunday mornings, we had “technical difficulties”. In this case, the computer through which the audio and video are run, decided that a good time for a system update would be just before the sermon. Kantor told me she could see the Blue Screen of Death.

Before March I never really gave any thought to having our services online, but like most pastors I had to think about it a whole lot more and actually get it done. There are a good number of folks around here who know how to get things up and running and so our “technical difficulties” are fewer and fewer in frequency, but sometimes still occur. When they do happen, I think that our members watching have been gracious and patient, knowing that we are not a Hollywood production, but what they are seeing is the Divine Service ordered according to the Sacred Scriptures and the doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.

So I don’t fret about the tech stuff, I don’t think that you pastors out there should too much either. Do the best you can with the resources available to you, and let that be enough. These upcoming Holy Days of Christmas are presenting enough challenges for us all. If your sermon can be heard through the internet, don’t worry about the production values. This isn’t a competition for clicks. The point is you want your sermon to be heard by your members, who, for whatever reason, are not present. If others want to watch, that is nice. What you desire is for people to come to be Baptized, be taught the Word, receive the Blessed Sacrament and to live in fellowship with one another in a real place, according to Christ’s own institution. There is no internet church. Our Lord Christ came in flesh. He was made man. He dwells with us incarnate, gathering us by His Gospel. You want people to be in Church. That is your focus. Preach the Word this Christmas, don’t worry about technical difficulties or the tech at all if you can help it. Use it as the limited tool that it is. Preach the New Born King. Just as the angelic proclamation lead the shepherds to the Child in the manger, your voice is to be that of the angels to your hearers this Christmas, leading them to where the Newborn Christ is- at the Altar. The internet cannot give them the Body and Blood of the Son of God for the forgiveness of sins. It never will. Don’t worry about the technical difficulties then. Trust in the Christ child for you, and preach His Good News.