Births, deaths, funerals, and weddings are just some of the intimate life events that many of us have experienced via livestream over the past year. As wonderful as it's been to have some mechanism for drawing close to those we love during meaningful moments, there’s no doubt about it—nothing replaces physical togetherness.

Pastor and author Jay Y. Kim addresses this in “What We Learned About the Embodied Church During the Pandemic.”

“While digital is proving to be a wonderful front door, at our deepest, we are eager for the intimacy and depth of the dining room,” Kim says. “Digital may very well be a permanent part of our ongoing future but the pandemic has taught us that it is a means to a greater, far more incarnational end.”

As we re-enter an altered world, may we do so as a people who treasure the One who put on flesh to dwell among us. And may we treasure togetherness once more.