Should We Live-Stream Orthodox Services?

My first reaction to hearing of Protestant family and friends live-streaming services was somewhat emotionally detached. "I guess that is ok for them, but you could not digitally commune of the body and blood of Christ." Then, within a day or two, I started hearing of Orthodox churches streaming their services, and it has thrown me through a series of questions and thoughts about what the implications might be.

We already have all these barriers between us and God...and to be clear, the barrier is us, not him. He is everywhere present; we are rarely fully present anywhere. It is already too easy to go to church where everything is set up for prayer and for my thoughts to be everywhere but prayer.

Now, not being able to go to church, we are praying at home. Praying at home is usually going to be much more potentially distracting, if for no other reason than the church is designed to draw us into worship in every way: sight, sound, smell, touch, and even taste. Most homes do not have a space that is that "set apart".

Praying is hard. Praying at home is a little bit harder. Praying while watching a screen with a church on it? That screen, the speakers, the perspective, the backlit keyboard, the machine in the middle, the video of smoke without the smell of incense, the tinny sound of computer speakers obscuring the hymns...there are infinitely more barriers and distractions in that situation, it seems.

How is the live-stream even used in a home? I kept thinking through the practical layout of things. Am I going to sit at my desk and watch the computer? At the desk is no good: should I sit on the sofa with the computer on my lap? Sitting just seems to be a problem. Should I stand at my prayer corner with icons in front of me and set the computer or phone there where an icon should be? Can't do it.

Another seminarian and I were talking about this, and he mentioned that, as he sees it, the video is the most problematic aspect, but not so much the audio. Watching a video is more like watching a movie or TV...meaning, it is too easy to just sit and receive or be entertained, instead of taking part in the prayers. However, turning on the video, and maybe leaving it behind you, where you can only hear it, while your body is focused on what it should be, maybe toward the prayer corner, toward the icons...that is a very different story.

Then end point, for me, is that going to church is not the end; it is the means. Ultimately, we go to church not to hear and sing great music, pray great prayers, fellowship with our church friends, or even to learn more about God. Church is a means to communion with God. All those other things are great, but they are not the one thing needful.

And, yes, the chief, utmost, pinnacle, highest communion with Christ is joining ourselves to him when we eat of his flesh and drink his blood, but that is not the only way. Prayer is communion. So, for myself, instead of watching one means of communion, that is, watching church, I should do everything I can to continue to put in the hard work toward communing with Christ, though prayer.

If playing Vespers, Liturgy, or whatever else in the background, because I do not have all the materials or know-how to put all that together, much less beautifully, is what I choose to do, that is fine, but I sure do not want to place any extra barriers in front of me that make the end goal of communion with Christ any harder than it already is.