"We forget good service, but we remember hospitality."

Easter is coming, with all of its promise and celebration. For worship leaders, it also means worship services with the biggest attendance of the year, likely with many visitors.

How will we welcome them all?

This question may be more important this year. Most people, including those active in our congregations, may feel uncertain about what we are doing and what's expected. Given the uncertainty of the past year, active participants may even wonder where worship will be (online, outside, in the sanctuary), not to mention occasional or first-time visitors.

In thinking about this challenge, I discovered a TED talk about the difference between hospitality and service. While shared from a secular perspective of restaurants and hotels, it offers some insights for the church, including the quote at the top.

As worship leaders we focus on many technical things in our services, alongside other worship leaders in our congregations. We strive for excellence, offering worship that worthy of the God we praise and, on Easter, perhaps touches powerful and awesome mystery we celebrate.

But what if people's engagement stems more from hospitality than from our technical gifts? What if we spend planning time to anticipate questions and doubts, even to just show up? What if we put extra effort to removing those anxieties?

Are you going to worship in person? How can you share the expectations of physical distancing, masking, bathroom usage, or options for children in loving ways that put everyone at ease? Are you sharing online worship? How will you welcome people in a virtual space and put them at ease?

Worship leaders have been dealing with lots of details about the best ways to worship for over a year. Fewer people in our congregations, and hardly any guests, know all of the decisions we've made. In some ways, our Easter worship services may feel new to almost everyone.

If we lead with love and welcome, people will react. If people feel truly comfortable in this most uncomfortable time, many will connect -- with you, with each other, and with God. And they'll remember, in this year where disconnection and distance has been the norm.

This probably seems like piling on to your to do list when it's already far too long. And perhaps this is an opportunity to invite others to share this part of the work, especially if they have gifts of hospitality. I just don't want people to see you and the church as a service industry, where Easter is just a transaction, like a meal in most restaurants.

Hopefully it's just another way we live out our identity as people of Christ's table, welcoming others as we have been welcomed.

In case you missed it last month, Rev. Patty offered a video message about the transitions congregations face this year as we likely emerge from the pandemic. Watch it here.