DIY Church Service

Our church has been without a pastor for almost a year. Our long-time settled pastor left us a couple of years ago, and it took us a couple of months to find an interim. The interim resigned last fall, and since then we've been going it alone. We have a terrific team of leaders who have found pulpit supply, last winter we shared services with a sister UCC church for 2 months, and we've had a lot of lay-led services in between. Today was a real experiment. No pastors were available today --- our pool of supply pastors were either involved with General Synod, on vacation, otherwise booked, or no longer preaching. Our usual lay leaders were out of energy and ideas. So at council last week we decided to hold a very informal service. We had an organist to play some hymns, a soloist, and a reader to read the gospel lesson from the lectionary. Our fearless Nurture team Coordinator directed the proceedings. The lesson from Mark was read, and then the congregation was asked to meditate on the reading for a few minutes, and then invited to share thoughts. (Those members of the church who are in our church's on line "chat group" had been asked to wrestle with the passages during the week, so at least we knew that a few folks might have something to share.) This was a rather scary thing for us to do today ----- but it fit the "hope in the midst of fear" motif that Rev. Songbird wrote about over in her blog. The service was well-received. And we got good news today. The Search team has identified a candidate who will be preaching for us in mid July!!

Now the next challenge is the July 5th service. Again, we have been unable to find an ordained pastor to lead the service. I'm heading up a small group to lead this service. I found some terrific worship resources here and here. This last has some youth and adult Sunday school lessons, which we're adapting. We will give the congregation a copy of the Mark gospel reading and 3 questions to ponder, with room for folks to jot down thoughts. Then again, we will invite the congregation to share their thoughts. It's also a communion Sunday, and we will be adapting a communion liturgy. While we know this isn't exactly kosher, we also know that our congregation does not want to miss communion. (We did this once before when we could not find an ordained person to do communion.) So another scary moment. WE are so ready for a pastor! I hope we don't overwhelm whoever she or he is with our eagerness to hand over the reigns!

From Church to Knitting to Church -- All in A Weekend

I've been on overdrive since I got home from work Friday. Left school at 3:30 and did a few errands, ending up at the church to meet up with my co-worship planner for next Sunday. We are pastor-less right now --- our settled pastor left 2 years ago, and our interim resigned a month ago. Our search team has just put our profile out into the denomination, so we hope that in the next 2 or 3 months, we can find a new settled pastor. Meanwhile we either get a "supply" pastor, or create some lay=led services. Next Sunday is a one such laity service. It's Reformation Sunday, and we will also be acknowledging All Saints' Day a week early. (We're participating in a joint service on Nov 2nd with a neighbor church) So my co-planner and I spent almost 2 hours mapping out the service and locating resources. We decided early on to focus the children's moment on the gifts given to the church in memory of our previous "saints". We'll set up the communion table which was purchased in memory of a beloved deacon, and place various other gifts - candlesticks, lecturn Bible, carillon tapes, hymnals, etc. The joint sermon (which has yet to be written) will somehow tie the birthing of the Protestant church and our Puritan "saints" to all the "saints" and personal spiritual heroes we all have. We'll ask the congregation to write the name(s) of their own personal spiritual heroes on sticky notes, and bring them forward to stick on some beautiful posters from the church school curriculum of Moses, the apostles, and other spiritual leaders. Got home late and made myself a grilled cheese sandwich and soup for dinner since my husband wasn't home.

Saturday my Knitting Friend and I boarded a chartered bus for a 3 1/2 hour drive to Rhinebeck at 6:30 am. This was our first trip to the NY State Sheep and Wool Show, and we had a blast! The weather was chilly but otherwise perfect for a fall show. The place was mobbed too. I drooled over many skeins of hand-dyed yarn, especially the gorgeous skeins from Ellen's 1/2 Pint farm. But Knitting Friend and I have made a pact not to buy any yarn unless we have a specific project in mind. We both have a long, long queue of projects all set to knit, except for having the time to do it. I did buy an Addi Turbo lace needle, size 7, for a project I started but have been having problems with because I didn't have a sharp enough needle. I also bought a pattern from Foxfire Fibers where we met Melissa Morgan-Oakes which was really cool! This was our first time here, so we just really enjoyed the day. We got home about 10 pm, and then I had to do some typing for my husband who had to have it done before he left on business at 8 am this morning.

Today has been busy with church - I was lay reader, and then I had to moderate the church council meeting. That was an interesting experience, since I'd never done that before. (I was recently appointed as vice-moderator). And something happened today that I've never experienced. One of our older members fainted during the Prayers of the People. The guest pastor was wonderful as 911 was called, and the ambulance crew showed up. He kept everyone calm, led us in prayer for her and her family, and didn't blink an eye. We think she's all right, but they are going to be running some tests. Then, after church, I had to do the grocery shopping since my husband wasn't around to do it! So now after some relaxation, I have to start my school work for tomorrow. Definitely no rest for the weary.

So now it's time to do my homework, not to mention maybe some housework, and then it's time to start the whole workweek again!