PRAISE IN OUR NEW NORMAL
Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty firmament! Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!– Psalm 150:1, 6
As we edge slowly towards the end of the pandemic that has so dominated our lives, we’re left with many choices about how we want the world in front of us to be. That includes our congregation and its worship life. What do we want to bring back? What do we want to leave behind? What should shift? We all know that we have been changed through these many months. It doesn’t feel right to just do what we used to do. But given how things don’t quite feel as we remember, how do we figure out what exactly we come back to – and how?
Staff are making plans for potential programing and worship schedules that depend greatly on vaccination rates, infection rates, and the spread of variants. For now, we’re hopeful. We think that we can offer something more like a regular kind of worship, service, and learning that we’re used to here at Easter. But I invite you all to keep an open mind, because we’re moving into a new normal, not going back to how it was.
I’m not telling you that you won’t recognize your church, or you should be worried, or that it’s time to draw lines in the sand. I’m saying that you should expect that just as you have been changed by these months of stress, uncertainty, isolation, innovation, and change, so too has your faith community. This might mean worship might be a little different or on a new schedule. It might mean that education offerings for adults and young people alike might run a little differently. It might mean that our interactions with our ministry partners take a new shape. While it might feel strange at first, I humbly ask you give it time. Let’s work together to make sure our community is living fully into the new reality to which God calls us.
In all things, we’ll remember that the mission of this congregation is to grow in faith and carry on the work of Jesus Christ. That will continue. Faithfully and prayerfully, we’ll discern the way to do that best in this new era.
In Psalm 150, the last psalm of the book, there is one refrain: praise. In all things, in all ways, at all times, we praise our God. As we praise God that difficult times are winding down, we remain prayerful – and praise-ful – about all the new, exciting, meaningful ways we’ll express our faith and share the good news of Jesus Christ that are yet to come.
Let us pray:
God, you make all things new. Grant me an open heart and mind to see, hear, try, and understand these new things during challenging times. Draw me even deeper into the life of my faith community so that I can continue to grow in faith and carry on the work of your Son, Jesus Christ, in whose name I pray. Amen.