I can understand the hesitancy of people gathering for a worship service again. Covid-19 is still with us. The number of people with Covid-19 is increasing. There are more and more things getting back to normal – but some people seem to be reckless, And so I understand people being cautious.
Of course, it is also very nice to be able to get up when you want, brew a coffee, heat a bagel and then sit up on the couch and watch church on your tv, laptop or tablet. We are so thankful that a worldwide pandemic hit when we had the Web, Zoom and YouTube!
Some aspects of Church can indeed be held on YouTube and Zoom. And underground Churches around the world have held themselves together while hiding away in isolation since the Church began.
There are other important things about Church that cannot be done in isolation. The sense of fellowship and singing together for example. Though masks and social distancing has limited these, being together has been helpful for a good percentage of our community.
In the next few weeks, we will have full children and youth opportunities, watch for details and timing.
I have to say that with our safety standards at OCC, it is probably the safest place I have been during this time of Covid. We are being more cautious than we have to be. If you are an OCCer, it would be good to see you soon. Tomorrow we will be gathering at 10am and the pre-recorded service will be available at 8am. Sunday evening at 6:30pm we will be meeting online to pray. At this point, we are not planning on live streaming our Gathering. There are differences in how we set these two services up.
This week we are continuing to build on the Jesus Creed and specifically Jesus’ announcement of the Kingdom of God – A Beautiful Mess.