"Finding Our Rhythm Again"

Decatur First United Methodist Church will resume in-person worship in the sanctuary on Sunday, August 16, 2020.  Our Public Health Response Team met again this week and unanimously agreed that it is time for our church to come together again.  To return safely to in-person worship, we ask everyone who plans to attend to make reservations in advance for the number of people who will attend from each household.  We will offer two Sunday morning in-person worship services, the first at 8:30 and the second at 10:30.  This will leave us a full hour between services for cleaning the sanctuary.  The 10:30 service will also be livestreamed on Facebook.  You will find a link above that carries you directly to an online Worship Reservation Form.  Complete the form indicating the service you and members of your household plan to attend.

Why two services?  Under the social distancing guidelines established by our Public Health Response Team, our sanctuary capacity is 50 to 75, depending on the size of household groups that sit together.  Individuals/groups from different households will be seated no closer than six feet from each other.  This means we will occupy every other pew.  All in attendance will wear masks from the time we enter the building until we have exited.  The exception to wearing a mask will be the worship leader or preacher when he or she is speaking or leading singing while standing twenty or more feet from the nearest person.  Be sure to watch the Return to Worship Video for protocols we will all observe when we attend.

Returning to in-person worship is our priority.  With the help of our Interim Children’s Minister Louise McCallion, we are adapting worship to engage children as well as adults.  Each Sunday, children will have Busy Bags which contain crayons and an activity connected to the Bible passage the preacher is preaching about that day. We are working with our Children’s Ministry Team on plans for safely reopening our nursery and resuming Children’s Church.  For now, however, we ask parents to bring your children into worship with you.  If there is more noise during the service than usual, we will get used to it!  Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these” (Luke 18:16)!

Returning to in-person worship is important for our church.  Athletes are again practicing for team sports to prepare for the fall season.  They had no spring training in April and May.  Coaches urged players to work out on their own to stay in shape for their sport.  That way, when team sports resumed, they would be ready.  Many were disciplined and worked to maintain or gain strength, stamina, endurance, and speed. Their self-initiative will serve them and others well in the future.

There is one thing that even the most disciplined athlete lost training alone, and that is something called timing.  We use a variety of metaphors to describe what happens to team players when they do not practice together.  They get out of sync, lose their rhythm, are off beat, not hitting on all cylinders, not all on the same page, etc. etc . What is true for athletes applies equally to members of the church.

We have done a lot of things right during our time apart, and they should be celebrated!  I can point to many church and staff members who have worked tirelessly over the past 22 weeks adapting ministries to meet a new set of needs brought on by the COVID-19 outbreak.  I could name new church practices like livestreaming our morning worship every Sunday that we only dreamed of in the days we were meeting together.  Now we have the capacity to keep livestreaming our worship services indefinitely, which we plan to do.  But the one thing we are missing as a church and as individual members of the Body of Christ is TIMING.  Throughout my life I have moved to the rhythm of weekly worship in which we come together for the proclamation of the Word, the administration of the Sacraments, the edification of Believers, and the Redemption of the World.  I need that in my life and so do you to be in step with Christ and fellow Believers.  I look forward to seeing you in worship when you determine in your mind and heart that it is safe and right to return.

Yours in Christ,
Hughey