Outdoor Worship
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by Rev. Eric Folkerth
The day after our Bishop sent us a letter saying Kessler Park UMC could officially reopen for worship, I had the following dream…
I dreamed it was the morning that worship was to resume. I chose to get to the church very early — hours and hours before worship was to begin. (It might have still been dark…)
But when I opened the sanctuary door the lights were on and there were 250-300 people already sitting in the pews, chatting away.
No social distance.
No masks.
Hugs, laughter, joy.
(BTW: all of these folks were nameless and faceless…no specific humans…)
I immediately freaked.
I thought to myself, “They’re not supposed to be here yet!”
“They’re not supposed to be INside…we agreed to be OUTSIDE!”
“Nobody’s wearing masks….they’re all gonna get sick!”
I knew it would fall to me to tell everyone to head out the “1215 door” and on to the lawn, and I knew they wouldn’t like it. So, I made the announcement over the din of the crowd, and stood just outside the door as folks filed back out.
One person would stop to say, “It’s too cold out here!”
The next, “It’s too hot out here!”
It was clear…nobody was happy.
You may not realize it, but this is the kind of “performance anxiety dream” that preachers have throughout their careers. This one was, obviously, quite specific to the year we are having.
Let’s start with the last thought: Nobody’s happy.
And that’s true. Nobody *really* wants to have to worship outdoors. Nobody wants to have to make the moral choice of whether or not to attend worship. Nobody wants to wear their mask, or download the bulletin onto their smartphone or tablet. Nobody wants the FOMO that comes from watching the livestream. Like in the dream, nobody wants to be where we are right now.
But I hope you can see our outdoor worship as a sign of HOPE. Whether or not *you* can be a part, it’s a sign of the hope for our church and our world. It’s like our “joys and concerns” prayers. Some weeks, some of us are up. Some weeks, some of us are down. But the *point* is that we are one community, through it all, whether we are in person or online.
So, we’ll continue to worship outside for as long as the weather’s good.
Bring your own lawn chair or blanket. Several members brought their dogs last Sunday, which I thought was wonderful. Why the heck not? Our outdoor worship will have a more casual “camp” feel to it…it cannot help but be so. So, let’s lean into it… Bring your blankets and “brunch” to eat, if you wish…why not?! (Just don’t share it with anyone…)
Bring your smartphone or tablet and download the bulletin/worship slides so you can follow along.
Or, continue to watch the livestream, and we promise to continue to provide a quality online option for worship every week.
Outdoor worship is simply the “next step” in a year that has already been unusual in terms of worship.
The pandemic is pushing us to be *nimble* in how we respond and innovate our worship. That will continue into the future. Going forward, our worship will very likely always include more technology and the need to nimbly adapt and change “the way we’ve always done things.” And especially, as this pandemic continues, we continue to commit to “do no harm” in all that we do.
Finally, I hope you realize the following message that is very clear in that dream I had…
Even when we are separated from you, your KPUMC staff thinks about you. We even DREAM about you.
Even when we cannot see you in person —or only see your eyes peeking back from behind your mask— we pray for you and hope that you are OK in this crazy time.
Whether you come to our in-person worship this Sunday, or whether you don’t return to Church for months to come, you matter to God…and you matter to us at Kessler Park Church.
God bless you all,
Eric