It may have passed notice here, but the UK the Prime Minister ordered churches closed to all including clergy (March 23). The Archbishops of Canterbury and York followed up with a statement to clergy saying, “Our church buildings must now be closed not only for public worship, but for private prayer as well, and this includes the priest or lay person offering prayer in church on their own.”
The archbishops’ declaration received pushback from some. The Archdeacon of Hastings wrote,
Rather than mothball the parish churches, my plea is that clergy might actually be encouraged to visit their parish churches regularly; to pray in them for their parishioners and ring the bell to signify that they are doing so; to live-stream or record services from them as much as possible, given the current restrictions; and to use key features of the churches as teaching aids for those who are currently unable to gather inside them.
Today, Thinking Anglicans reports the London College of Bishops tightens its position on livestreaming. In an Ad Clercum, the bishops write:
[We ask clergy, without exception,] to stop all live streaming from your church buildings for the time being…. [W]e want to thank you … for the way in which many have creatively streamed worship from your own homes.
Image: The Rev. Linda Tomkinson livestreams worship from her living room.