In recent weeks, it hasn’t been quite as important for me to share our worship resources with you here because we’ve been working to incorporate them more fully into our online worship broadcast. We hope that having everything together in one place for you to share in worship is helpful.
I know at the surface it probably seems as if not much is happening. That truly isn’t the case, there is much happening behind the scenes as we do the work of adapting to new ways of being. Most of the familiar patterns of congregational ministry are impacted in some way or another – but there are also opportunities that come in the midst of adapting. While every member of our staff still has the same basic function, how we are able to do our duties and what they look like from day to day is changing. There is also a recognition that no one solution will meet the needs of everyone – so we are working to create multiple options to keep us connected with one another during this time.
Summer is fully upon us now, so even as we prepare the way for offering some opportunities to gather at the church – and in the building of small groups – and seek new ways to meet pastoral care needs in this new reality, we are finishing up the writing and preparations for VBS and I’m getting ready to lead the first virtual camp of Laurel Ridge’s season this year beginning on June 28. None of this is what any of us could have imagined doing 3 months ago. From reimagining worship through 2 different phases of being online only to beginning the preparations for an outdoor phase alongside of an online one. All of this happening while we prepare the sanctuary to be more fully equipped to have a worship gathering and offer a streaming or recorded option.
We know you are grieving and want to return to a Sunday morning that looks and feels like the last time many of us were all together back on March 8. We can’t offer you that quite yet – this will continue to feel and look different, even as we do begin to offer a gathering in coming weeks. Not everyone is ready to come into a large gathering yet, so we ask your patience with me, with the members of your boards, and most importantly with each other as none of this is easy for any of us.
Be sure to take a few minutes and read through the latest update from the Joint Board:
Step-1-Regathering-part-2