On March 26, 2020, our newsletter, The Visionary, mapped out a plan on how we, as a church, would maneuver through what we called “challenging times.” Never in my thoughts or plans or weirdest dreams would we be doing worship differently for 15 months, 1 week and 2 days.
Fifteen plus months ago, the leadership of Spirit of Hope and myself spoke about taking the lemons we’ve been given and make some amazing lemonade! Looking back, I can say that did our best and tried to make some tasty lemonade. Some things we did well, some things we did not do so well, but we did not sit around and wait for this pandemic to be over. As the body of Christ, you have been very patient with the leadership of your church even as you saw other churches opening up and doing worship as they did pre-pandemic.
So welcome back together again! That statement might seem a bit odd because, as you know, we have had church every week online, even came together for a sunrise outdoor service on Easter this year. Yet, there is just something powerful and amazing about meeting together as the church! Especially when it's been many over fifteen months since we met together in our worship center!
These past few months have been quite trying for all of us. We have missed the sounds of praise reverberate in the worship center. We have also missed the occasional stopping by the church just to say “Hi!”
When something is taken away that we have enjoyed for years like church, we begin to realize what a tremendous blessing it is in our lives! The Bible is quite clear of the value of meeting together as we read from Hebrews 10:25: Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Our world needs the message the church has to offer. Andraé Crouch wrote a beautiful song years ago with very simple lyrics. The message is as needed today as when he wrote the song, “Jesus Is the Answer.”
Jesus is the Answer for the world today,
Above Him there's no other, Jesus is the Way,
I encourage you to be a person full of grace as we gather back together again. To be filled with grace in this context would mean that we refrain from being critical of others because their thought process is different than ours. Some aren't ready to return to in-person worship or wearing masks; and that's just fine! Others are ready to start hugging and shaking hands immediately, yet we ask that you refrain from that for just a while. I know this can be especially difficult for the “huggers” in our midst!
With restrictions being softened, we find ourselves ready to venture into a different scenario for worship as our re-opening guidelines have changed. On July 4th we will officially reopen for in-person worship on Sundays. This is a new start for us and we will do our absolute best to make sure we are in a safe, yet welcoming environment both for all people and the presence of God!
The worship service on Sunday, July 4th, will have some restrictions which will be outlined in our newsletter, The Visionary, and online at our website, spiritofhope.cc. In order to get the kinks out of this new venture, we will come together for worship in what we are calling a “soft re-opening” on June 20th and June 27th at 10 am, but still recording worship for those Sundays also.
Thank you for giving your leadership an extra dose of grace during this time as well. We are excited to worship together and be back together again!
Blessings in Christ,
Pastor Deborah Schauer
Fifteen plus months ago, the leadership of Spirit of Hope and myself spoke about taking the lemons we’ve been given and make some amazing lemonade! Looking back, I can say that did our best and tried to make some tasty lemonade. Some things we did well, some things we did not do so well, but we did not sit around and wait for this pandemic to be over. As the body of Christ, you have been very patient with the leadership of your church even as you saw other churches opening up and doing worship as they did pre-pandemic.
So welcome back together again! That statement might seem a bit odd because, as you know, we have had church every week online, even came together for a sunrise outdoor service on Easter this year. Yet, there is just something powerful and amazing about meeting together as the church! Especially when it's been many over fifteen months since we met together in our worship center!
These past few months have been quite trying for all of us. We have missed the sounds of praise reverberate in the worship center. We have also missed the occasional stopping by the church just to say “Hi!”
When something is taken away that we have enjoyed for years like church, we begin to realize what a tremendous blessing it is in our lives! The Bible is quite clear of the value of meeting together as we read from Hebrews 10:25: Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another–and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Our world needs the message the church has to offer. Andraé Crouch wrote a beautiful song years ago with very simple lyrics. The message is as needed today as when he wrote the song, “Jesus Is the Answer.”
Jesus is the Answer for the world today,
Above Him there's no other, Jesus is the Way,
I encourage you to be a person full of grace as we gather back together again. To be filled with grace in this context would mean that we refrain from being critical of others because their thought process is different than ours. Some aren't ready to return to in-person worship or wearing masks; and that's just fine! Others are ready to start hugging and shaking hands immediately, yet we ask that you refrain from that for just a while. I know this can be especially difficult for the “huggers” in our midst!
With restrictions being softened, we find ourselves ready to venture into a different scenario for worship as our re-opening guidelines have changed. On July 4th we will officially reopen for in-person worship on Sundays. This is a new start for us and we will do our absolute best to make sure we are in a safe, yet welcoming environment both for all people and the presence of God!
The worship service on Sunday, July 4th, will have some restrictions which will be outlined in our newsletter, The Visionary, and online at our website, spiritofhope.cc. In order to get the kinks out of this new venture, we will come together for worship in what we are calling a “soft re-opening” on June 20th and June 27th at 10 am, but still recording worship for those Sundays also.
Thank you for giving your leadership an extra dose of grace during this time as well. We are excited to worship together and be back together again!
Blessings in Christ,
Pastor Deborah Schauer
