In the same week-end where I saw a Facebook friend was planning for a virtual pet blessing service, I got an invitation to my church's drive through pet blessing service. My first thought was to marvel at the fact that it's late August and time to plan for fall.
I don't envy any of us in our planning for fall. For us, summer was easy--we wouldn't be gathering outside in the South Florida heat, and it certainly hasn't been wise to be inside during this spike in COVID-19 cases. For us, fall won't be too different--it's still fairly warm for outside services, and it's still not wise to gather in a group.
And here's an interesting observation: we have more people participating in creating the pieces of our worship service that get assembled into a coherent service, and we have more people watching than we used to have attend live services.
All too soon, it will be time to plan for Advent. It feels very far away and of course, right now we have no way of knowing for sure where we will be in terms of pandemic or politics or paychecks. Should we plan for virtual Christmas pagaents? Virtual Christmas Eve?
I realize that in much of the country, we won't be able to worship outside much longer. My church was built for a much bigger congregation than we have now, so we could sit our entire congregation properly spaced out in our building, but I realize that not every church can do this easily.
My church is lucky too, in that we seem fairly united in what is the best way to be church right now. We are not breaking into factions demanding different kinds of worship: in-person, remote, or some variation.
Let me take a moment on this Sunday in August to say a prayer for us all as we make our way in this new landscape.
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