Dea
r St. John's Community,
The image to the right is a detail of the church, a photo I took for the production of our Sunday worship this morning. (Click
here
if you missed this morning's worship, or would like to experience it again!)
Brent, our music director who turns out to be gifted also as a film editor, came up with the brilliant idea to splice in images of our church's sanctuary into the online services we've been creating. It's a chance to notice the details of our space and to savor the craftsmanship that went into the beauty that is there--a beauty that was lovingly made for the sake of elevating our hearts to be nearer to God!
As I have been saying a lot recently, I think that our church is on many levels a space for grace. In a physical sense, it marks an actual space that is one of peace in the middle of a very hectic and hard driving city. In a spiritual sense, the grace, love and joy that St. John's embodies as a community that gathers here is something that goes beyond, and which gets spread out into the world.
I pray that, even while we cannot use our buildings in person at this time, this grace that is held there will generously radiate out to the corners of all of our lives, and may bring healing, comfort, courage and fortitude right now.
And when this is all over, I cannot wait for the day when we will get to gather in person in this space once again.
Until then, we will keep experimenting, learning, being patient, trying new things, and seeking ways to empower God's work through us all.
***
A sermon worth sharing.
Our bishop, Mariann Budde, preached a sermon that I encourage everybody to hear! She says in it, "It is for this hour that we are here."
