Hello Church!
We look forward to worshiping together this Sunday morning at 9:30 am. Click here to view our live stream.
If you’d like to follow along with the order of service, click here for the bulletin.
To join us in singing, find the hymn texts on our music sheet.
We wish you a blessed and restful Sabbath!
Worship Updates
August 25, 2020
Hello Church!
Our family tried something very new and very strange on Monday night: we hosted Barrett’s fourth birthday party on-line. With some of our regular guests living in Minnesota, and with our school start date set for last week, this seemed the safest way to gather everyone for a celebration. But, as you might imagine, I had never hosted a digital birthday party before.
Happily, this wasn’t all as new and bizarre as it sounds. After all, we sent invitations through e-mail, which is certainly not a new thing. Guests purchased and sent gifts on-line, which we’ve been doing for birthdays and holidays for years. With one old-fashioned phone call, I ordered cupcakes for our out-of-town guests at a bakery local to them. A couple of hours before the party I physically dropped off themed cupcakes and picked up gifts from our local guests. Then at 6:30 pm, we all clicked the magic link and Barrett could see and talk to all of his loving grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. For the next hour he was the center of attention and he, naturally, loved it!
Now, it was not the same as having everyone in the room. Six households singing happy birthday over Zoom is not a smooth experience. No tight hugs accompanied the thank-you after gift opening. And I have way too much cake left over in my house! It wasn’t the same, but it was good. In fact, some aspects were even better on-line. While we wished we could’ve been together in person, I marvel at the way old and new technology came together and helped our family come together to create a special experience for one happy little boy.
Reflecting on this gives me hope for the church as we continue to balance a hybrid of digital and in-person experiences. Many of us at this point might say that worshiping on-line isn’t so new and bizarre as it might sound. As a congregation we get to rely on plenty of things we already know, along with some things we’re learning, while knowing that some things will need adjustments and modifications over time. Being on-line is often not ideal, and it’s certainly not the way we’ve always done it. But as we continue to move forward in our mission, I’m becoming ever more hopeful that we will keep discovering new opportunities to both expand our reach and deepen the relational aspects of our ministry. As we explore the realities and possibilities of being both a physical and digital congregation, I expect we’ll keep coming across new invitations to grow, to reflect, to draw closer to God together.
Whether you join us as part of the physical congregation or the digital congregation on any given day, we’re glad you’re here. We are the church together!
In Christ,
Pastor Brandy