A New Different Kind of Hospitality
I was so excited to see those who attended our outdoor worship this fall, I was giddy with joy and thankfulness that we could be together worshipping again. Like Zacchaeus welcoming Jesus, in Luke 19:6 “So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly”. I was ever so thankful and joyous to welcome people back. I loved making sure everyone had what they needed, masks, communion, worship bulletins, children bags, social distancing circles and reminders to keep each other safe. It took a lot of planning, work and help from my hospitality leadership team to put it all together, but it worked out great for all who attended. Except for the bees liking the communion wine a little too much.
“Worship has changed, but the One we worship will never change.”
Once again we are planning, to make sure all who come to worship inside will feel comfortable doing so. As we work on planning for your return, I hope you will be kind, compassionate and forgiving as we do things differently. As Ephesians 4:32 says, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you”. We will be doing some new and different things as we begin opening up to worship together. We will be entering in one way and exiting out another way. There will be social distancing in the pews as well as when we enter into the sanctuary. Everyone will need to wear a mask, and we will be encouraging everyone to take their bulletins and children’s bags home with them. Communion will be done a little differently along with the offering. There will be much that will stay the same, we will be having people welcoming you into church, handing out bulletins and children’s bags, helping people find a place to sit and of course, praising and worshipping God together. Our pastors will be up front leading worship along with Gabe, Todd and the praise band. We will still be live streaming for those who still don’t feel comfortable attending in-person worship.
As we are all learning that much has changed, there is still much that is the same. Although worship has changed as we do live streaming and how we do it in person, we know that the One we do worship doesn’t and never will change. God is the same yesterday, today and forever. The desire for us to gather together to worship hasn’t changed, but how we do that has changed. How we take care of others has changed, now we were masks and social distance, but we still can care for and pray for each other. We live in a constantly changing world and we always have, but the one thing that is constantly constant is our God. Thanks be to God!
