Hello Friends! As you know, the Session has been considering for some time now how and when we might be able to gather again as a community of faith. It has been difficult for all of us to be unable to worship together in person. While we are not quite ready, logistically, to commence in person Sunday morning worship, the Session has agreed that the time has come for us to provide for time and space for people to gather in the sanctuary. We are ready to introduce what we are calling An Invitation to Sacred Space.
Initially, these gatherings will take place on Tuesday at 10 am, Wednesday at 5:30 pm, and Thursday at noon. The sanctuary will be open for approximately one hour at these times. The purpose of these gatherings is to provide Sacred Space…an opportunity to engage in quiet reflection and prayer. At the beginning of each of these gatherings, we might have an activity such as a brief devotional, music provided by Marty, Jane, or Drew (or others), and/or corporate prayer. Some gatherings may have no programming at all so that we can provide time for you to simply come and offer your personal prayers and reflections in the quiet beauty of the sanctuary. You are welcome to come any days you would like and are also welcome to come and go during the hour. We do not anticipate or desire large numbers of people at these gatherings. We are providing these gathering because of the stated and very real need for some of us to return to the sanctuary. We do anticipate returning to worship in the near future, but want to provide for these gatherings in the meantime, as we continue to get measures in place to help negate as much risk as possible for full worship together. We hope these gatherings will be meaningful to those who attend.
Having said that, we would now like to do something a little strange. We’d like to encourage you NOT to attend! Of course, we would love to have everyone gather, but please don’t attend if you are not comfortable doing so. We will do our very best to provide a safe and clean environment, but coming into the sanctuary for these gatherings is not a risk-free endeavor, so please consider the level of risk attending poses to you as an individual. Please do not come if you are not feeling well or have any reservations. Be assured that online worship will continue with no changes and these gatherings are not intended to take the place of our online worship time together. You should feel no pressure at all to attend just because the doors are open. We are the body of Christ gathered together or gathered apart.
If you do plan to attend, we are asking that you bring and wear a mask for the entire time that you are in the sanctuary. Masks will be made available if you don’t have one. We ask that you stay 6 feet apart. We also ask that you honor the goal of these gatherings which is to provide a quiet, reflective, sacred space. If you see a friend across the sanctuary that you want to speak with, please visit outside or go grab coffee together so that others in the sanctuary may enjoy their Sacred Space.
The first gathering will be held on August 4th at 10 am. Brenda will provide a short devotion and Jane will provide music. We will pray together and the rest of the hour will be available for personal prayer and reflection. Wednesday at 5:30, we will open with prayer and Jane will play a few favorites. On Thursday, Drew will offer some words of wisdom and, again, Jane will bless us with her musical talents.
If you have any questions, please call the church office or call Brenda Church (325) 669-9904. We hope these gatherings will be a blessing and a definitive move toward gathering again for worship.
