A Word from Laura: In-Person Worship
As we all negotiate the infringement of omicron on our daily lives and decisions, the question remains: When will we resume in-person worship?
As the numbers are cresting in our area, I hope it’s soon. The Worship Ministry Team met last night with Sundays in February as our target dates but felt it too soon to call; the team will meet again on February 2 to make a recommendation.
The longer answer is that this depends on us as a congregation and a shared ministry approach to in-person worship that is healthy, welcoming, and sustainable.
Healthy means continuing to ensure safe practices of mask wearing, social distancing, and gathering outdoors as much as possible, as well as modeling healthy, shared leadership. We’re working on finding N95 masks to have at the door; we’re also looking for folks who will share the duties at the church doors.
Welcoming means extending our welcome a diverse community, so that each person knows they matter when they are here. Our deacons are committed to modeling this welcome each Sunday, but it’s also the work of each worshiper, whether you are on-line or in-person!
Welcoming also means that while we strongly emphasize vaccinations and require them of our choir members, we will not ask for proof of vaccination at the door, and not just because we are exempt from the mayor’s mandate. We will continue to try to live out the scripture, literally etched in stone over the fireplace, to take care to welcome strangers, who may come as the divine in disguise.
Sustainable means sharing the ministry opportunities, so that no one individual or group feels overwhelmed by managing what can sometimes feel a little chaotic. Given this past fall, the chaos could range from an early morning sign of a cold when you were supposed to usher to the confusion of a newcomer to our community of faith to going on-line a few minutes late due to internet difficulties.
Our commitment to in-person worship means that it is a shared ministry. Worship is not just the job of the pastor or the music director or the choir, or even the Sunday morning techie. Our theology reminds us that “liturgy” (what we do in church) literally means “work of the people.”
Just as before the pandemic, in-person worship depends on all of us. Right now, we are looking for people who have the gifts and answer the call to a ministry of welcoming, ushering, and paying attention to the worship environment.
Our Worship Ministry Team is looking to develop teams of 2-3 people, including a deacon, who would lead this aspect of our shared ministry. Those on a team would serve every four to six weeks as a ministry of service, developing their spiritual gifts of welcoming, growing friendships, paying attention to details, and accountability to the team. They may be called upon to respond to unplanned circumstances, in which case they would have the support of Sterling or another staff person on duty.
This sounds a lot like an usher, you say? Yes, but in a 2.0 version.* When we resume in-person worship, I hope we have a group of folks who see yourselves as being the face of Western, who understand that we are still all newcomers to this way of being church in the midst of a pandemic, and who will see yourselves as sharing Christ in our worship as we find new ways to be community.
Are you interested? Wondering if this might be a way God is calling you to share your gifts? Have someone in mind for this kind of ministry? Or any thoughts in general about growing this aspect of our ministry? Please email me (Laura) or Greta Morris, elder and chair of our Worship Ministry Team.
Regardless of your interest in a Sunday morning team, I invite you to consider how God may be calling you to use your gifts for the sake of building up our worshiping community, so that we might continue to live together into God’s love and justice.
May you be well, may we all be well, may all manner of things be well,
Laura
*Head usher Jack Hume, who often leads with “I’m not the most techie person here…” has been part of the 2.0 discussion. Even the non-techies among us are working with upgrades… we can do this in real life, too!