Dear Rose Park,
During this isolating time our routines and schedules have been interrupted. A new sense of normal is setting in; parents are now becoming stay-at-home teachers, medical professionals are living in RV’s to keep their loved ones safe, and pastors are becoming talking-heads on the computer screen. This is an unprecedented time and we’re doing our best to keep a sense of normalcy, but we all know something is different and life has drastically changed.
Some of you have noticed and asked, Pastor Mark why aren’t you standing on stage during your online sermons or devotions like you normally would on Sunday morning? The short answer is because it’s not a normal Sunday and I don’t want to pretend as if it is normal. Something is missing from our Sunday morning experience, and that something is you. You are vital to the worship experience.
This is all to say, we miss you. I miss you. I miss arriving to worship early on Sunday morning’s to walk the sanctuary and pray for you. I miss hearing the chatter of conversation and laughter during our greeting time. I miss seeing you all embrace one another with hugs and handshakes. I miss hearing your voices sing praises to God. I miss sharing a cup of coffee with you during the week. I miss meeting you at the Table of grace. I miss dipping our hands together in the waters of baptism. I miss you and I truly hope to see you all sooner rather than later.
If this distancing time has opened our eyes to anything, I hope it’s the importance of community and gathering. I hope we all are rejuvenated in a sense to gather as the people of God, in the house of God, to sing praises to God, to hear a Word from God, and to be sent by the Spirit of God. Until then, we share in the fellowship of the Church through the power of the Holy Spirit by mailing cards, hanging hearts, making the phone call, or sending the e-mail.
May God the Father continue to care for you and your loved ones, God the Son continue to disciple us, and God the Spirit continue to draw us closer to each other as we’re drawn closer to Him.
Be well and we hope to see you soon!
Grace & Peace,
Pastor Mark