We are returning to 10 am worship! Yay!! I think.
I always find it hard to change times - be it spring ahead or fall behind - or move from 9 am back to 10 am. Though, I much prefer a 10 am service...even if it means I will not have that extra hour in the day to do whatever one does on a Sunday after church. (Nap).
However, it was nice being able to worship in the sanctuary before the temperature rose beyond 80 degrees. Makes one wonder, what did they do before air conditioning!?
Yet, with this time change also comes some liturgical change. We will be restoring many of the previous service elements that have fallen to the side due to COVID and summer. While some elements will remain in limbo, such as the passing of the peace, we will begin to sing a little more. We will have a bit more music during the offering. We hope that the choir will once again begin to gather. Communion logistics need to be ironed out a bit more, but we hope to bring some of the familiar back to the communion rail.
All this said, we have to realize the church never really closed, it never really stopped. Even when we do not sing or take communion the way we always have - church is still church. Because God is bigger than anything we do here in the sanctuary or outside the doors. Jesus has been trying to hit this message home for us in the bread of life discourse. Sunday after Sunday we hear messages of faith, hope, and love. Jesus prepares us for an ever changing world while we have a God that seems to somehow remain steadfast in love. Love for us, each of us. So as we prepare for the change in service time, let us open our hearts and minds to all that is changing around us. The seasons. The people. The trees. Everything.
See you at 10 am on Sunday! Remember to bring something that represents your labors in the world God has so graciously asked us to love.
Yours in Christ,
Pr. Jason