Rev. Judith Cooke
The one gift our son really wanted for Christmas was airpods. Since he rarely asks for anything specific, we knew they were important to him. After unwrapping them, they were rarely out of his ears, as he listened to his favorite band. Two days later, we were on a train to visit family, and he fell asleep against the window. One fell out of his ear and into the dark sliver of space between the seat and the train wall. For 15 long minutes, he, and the kind man behind him worked together to get it out – pushing it with a pad of paper, hooking it with the cover to my laptop, poking it with a pen and then a pencil.
Later when I was talking about how he recouped it, I began thinking of the church. With this pandemic, it feels like so much of what we have “always done” has slipped into a dark crevice where we can barely see it and want it back. We miss worship as it used to be. We miss fellowship hour downstairs. We miss church dinners inside the building. Once the pandemic is over, we will again have in-person, face-to-face ministries, but right now it is easier to focus on all that we no longer have.
While an airpod lost for a quarter hour is the same airpod once it is retrieved, the post-pandemic ministry at NGCC will likely look very different. Of course, we will still have worship, Sunday School, and fellowship, but I suspect they will have adapted. While very few people like change, shifting how we minister is essential if we are to meet people’s needs in a new time. In the thick of this latest covid surge, it may not be possible to envision the specifics. But with God’s help and some creative effort on our part, we will get there. After all, our God has a long history of guiding the faithful through the wilderness to wonderful new lands.
Trusting that God is leading us to a new and meaningful place, may God’s encouragement support us on our journey there.
Later when I was talking about how he recouped it, I began thinking of the church. With this pandemic, it feels like so much of what we have “always done” has slipped into a dark crevice where we can barely see it and want it back. We miss worship as it used to be. We miss fellowship hour downstairs. We miss church dinners inside the building. Once the pandemic is over, we will again have in-person, face-to-face ministries, but right now it is easier to focus on all that we no longer have.
While an airpod lost for a quarter hour is the same airpod once it is retrieved, the post-pandemic ministry at NGCC will likely look very different. Of course, we will still have worship, Sunday School, and fellowship, but I suspect they will have adapted. While very few people like change, shifting how we minister is essential if we are to meet people’s needs in a new time. In the thick of this latest covid surge, it may not be possible to envision the specifics. But with God’s help and some creative effort on our part, we will get there. After all, our God has a long history of guiding the faithful through the wilderness to wonderful new lands.
Trusting that God is leading us to a new and meaningful place, may God’s encouragement support us on our journey there.