Moving Forward
Our congregation has now returned to in-person services in our church building. Many people are excited about being back, while others are understandably cautious to return.
What might be on some people’s minds is: “I can’t wait to get back to normal.”
While I understand that sentiment, and agree to a certain extent, we need a more specific goal for the next chapter of our congregation.
This will be a time of healing for our congregation. People have been affected in different ways by the pandemic and those hurts are not going to disappear the day the masks come off. We need to care for one another and be watching for those who are struggling the most.
This will be a time for discernment concerning future ministries. Will all the pre-pandemic programs come back? In what ways will they change? Is there something new around the corner? Where is God leading us?
This will also be a time of giving thanks. God has brought us through a difficult time. We have done amazingly well during challenges we couldn’t have imagined just a few years ago. Let that thankfulness fuel our ongoing worship.
We pray that we are in the final stages of this pandemic. As we move toward this next chapter, let us do it in a thoughtful and prayerful manner, sensitive to God’s leading.
