by Rev. Eric Folkerth

Kessler Friends,

What does it mean to “connect” during a Pandemic?

What does it mean to “worship” during a Pandemic?

What does it mean to “be church” during a Pandemic?

These questions have been front-of-mind for all of us on staff and in lay leadership at Kessler Park these past few weeks. As I said in last week’s sermon, it feels like the situation is moving from something that originally felt like “summer camp” to something that feels a bit more ominous and long term.

We continue to hear the credible science that says the next few weeks in our city could be challenging. So, first, before I share any news of our community, I ask you to continue to PRAY. 

— Pray for all those affected by the virus, that they may recover.

— Pray for all first responders and medical personnel…especially our friends down the street at Methodist.

— Pray for city, county, state, and federal officials, that they might act together and share credible and scientific information.

Just….pray.

So, this will be a long update from me. And I’d apologize. But in this time, and especially with Holy Week on the horizon, we need to get this information to you.

Our Bishop has requested that we have no “in person” worship services through the end of April. This *could* be extended even further, and we will certainly keep you informed. He’s made it clear that he will follow the science from the CDC about what is “best practice.”

There has been some confusion about the local orders from our County Judge and Mayor, as opposed to a more recent order from our Governor. The Governor’s order seemed to open a door for religious organizations to again meet in public. After some clarification yesterday, it’s clear that all are in agreement: 

No in-person worship should take place for the time being, when livestream options are available. We obviously have good livestream options, so we will continue with this plan.

(And, I’m grateful to Bishop McKee and County Judge, who are working together to ensure that any smaller churches who struggle with livestreaming will be able to do so…)

Having said this, let me update and clarify our schedule and livestream events going forward.

Sunday Livestream Worship On Facebook Live

We will continue to livestream Sunday worship, via FacebookLive for the foreseeable future. I personally want to urge as many of you as possible to make the commitment to watch the service live.

Why?

Because of the “muscle memory” of being together at 11 am on Sundays.

Like “working out” every morning, brushing your teeth after meals, or praying before bed…our community’s goal is to make worship a regular “healthy habit” of our lives. Especially in this time of social distancing and isolation, regular routines will be important for all of us.

Plus, I am confident that there will be joy for you all to see each other’s names in the “comments” during the live worship.

Speaking of the “comments,” we are able to interact with you during the broadcast through the Facebook comment feature. You will be able to share prayer concerns and communicate with one of our worship team. And if we get those concerns early in the hour, we will fold it into the prayers that very morning.

Access to Worship on Facebook Live

I continue to hear concerns about Facebook Live…specially the incorrect assumption that if you don’t have a Facebook account, you cannot watch the service. That is not true. Let me say it very clearly:

ANYONE with internet access may watch our live worship or may watch the video of the worship at a later time. You do NOT have to have a Facebook account to watch.

Our Facebook page is like a “public” webpage that anyone on the internet can see.

Having said that, it might be challenging for folks to find the videos. Therefore, in a separate document, we will send step-by-step instructions on how to find our broadcast…or how to find the videos later in the week.

We are now able to project words and graphics in our worship video…so look for hymns and responsive readings in our upcoming services…with the words right there for you to follow along with!

(And thanks again for your kind comments about how those online worship experiences are going…)

ZOOM:

But, we also need to CONNECT with each other, face-to-face…even if it’s just “seeing” our faces. That’s why we’ll be using ZOOM too.

Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows our church members to connect via video and audio. We’ve already used it with about ten or so meetings and groups, and it’s working very well.

You use Zoom via any device: Desktop computer, laptop, tablet, or phone. And if you don’t have a video camera on any of your devices you can connect simply by voice call.

We will also make available step-by-step instructions for using ZOOM.

I urge you all to get set up with ZOOM as our worship on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday will BOTH be via ZOOM.

Online Meetings and Event Schedule, and Online Worship Page:

Yvonne has worked hard to create an online event schedule that lists all of our ZOOM meetings and during the pandemic, you should always be able to find our activities here:
https://kpumc.org/online-events

The "Online Worship" page assists those who watch our livestream worship:
https://kpumc.org/online-worship

Keep these two links handy for upcoming meetings and events.

OK…in the midst of all this….Holy Week is coming!

Let me briefly outline three worship services coming in the next week….and I hope you’ll note what we’re going to try to do here, because it will involve ways we can “connect” together, even in social distancing.

Palm Sunday:

Not only is this usually a special worship service, but it’s also a communion Sunday. We won’t have “palms” to wave to each other…but we’ll have the next best thing…

We’re asking you to cut a “live” green flower, branch, or leaf, and place it on your front door that morning. This is a way for us to connect together. And, truthfully, the Bible never says that people waved “palms.” It just says “branches.” So, actually, this will be more Biblical! :)

YOU will be the procession in each of your homes, as we worship Sunday morning.

Communion:

We will celebrate Communion this Sunday as well. Kay and I will lead the communion liturgy as we normally would. Obviously, we won’t have the “elements” of bread and wine with us. 

So…we invite your family to gather your OWN elements together. Bread, or crackers, or tortillas (Yes, I am bringing tortillas as my own bread to show you online…). You may use grape juice, wine, milk, or some other drink as well.

We will invite you to have those items ready to share as a community as we watch the service together.

Does this sound heretical?

All I can tell you is this. When I was a kid, one of the more meaningful communion services happened when our youth minister actually forgot the bread on a youth retreat. We ended up using Hamburger Buns for our bread. It was a powerful reminder to me that just as communion is a gift to us, so too are all our foods and drinks. God’s presence indwells them all…even hamburger buns with mustard on them!

Thursday and Friday:

My note to you is getting very long. Therefore, early next week we will send additional specifics about our Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services.

We will celebrate BOTH worship services via ZOOM. 

Maundy Thursday:

Thursday night, we will invite you to set up your audio/video around your family’s dinner table…because the original Maundy Thursday event was a meal shared with friends. We will have a short liturgy, and again share holy communion….very much as we will do Sunday….bring your own elements. 

Guess what? That’s what the original communion was! It was an add-on to a family mealtime for Jesus and the disciples. 

What will make this special and intimate is that we will be able to see each other as we take communion and share our common family dinner tables together.

Good Friday:

We will again worship via ZOOM. The service will be a series of the Gospel stories about Good Friday, and between each story we will hear different musical offerings from KPUMC members. They will be on ZOOM, playing and singing from their own homes too. Again, I think it will be special, beautiful, and intimate.

OK…that’s enough for now….

We will send more info on Thursday and Friday’s worship, as well as info on how to connect with Zoom and Facebook Live.

As always, feel free to reach out via email or voicemail at the church. Our system “dings” our phones and we can reply to you.

So….to the best of our ability, we answer those questions I posed at the start of this newsletter article through all the ways I’ve just described.

We will keep working hard to “be the church” together, even if that means just being online for now.

Grace and Peace,

Eric Folkerth