Finding Faith ... in the turn toward summer worship

By Pastor Devlyn

Wow! … The May newsletter? Can anyone believe that we’re already putting together the May newsletter? … And ironically, this church year has seemed to both be the longest church year ever in history, and also one that has gone by in the blink of an eye! … How can that be?!?!

First, looking back on this year, it seems like forever ago that we gathered together so tentatively back in September. Coming together for the first time in a year and half produced both joy and anxiety. What was service going to be like together after having been worshiping apart for 18 months?

But, thankfully with some really dedicated volunteers and a healthy dose of grace and flexibility on your part, we made it through. We came back together. We worshiped even though at times the precautions we took seemed to limit the sacred feeling of worshiping. But, most importantly, we didn’t let anything stop us from being a Faith Family together, and I think we should all be proud of that!

And then, the ensuing months after seemed to just fly by! … Didn’t they?

Now, we turn our focus to the next phase in our worshiping year.

Our Sunday school and confirmation classes will be wrapping up for the year. Our Education Committee is turning its focus toward a joint Vacation Bible School venture with the Comstock-Hoff Parish to our north. And our Music & Worship Committee is focusing on what our worship services will look like for the summer.

This summer, like we did last summer, we are going to hold our summer services on Wednesday night at the church. Last summer we made the decision to try the experiment because pulpit supply preachers were difficult to come by, and we had to be creative. Moving the services to Wednesday nights allowed me to preside every week, while still getting time with my family on the weekends. It was a good benefit for both the church and me.

Interestingly, after we tallied the numbers at the end of the summer months last year, we noticed that we did average higher attendance then the summer Sunday services of the last summer we held in 2019. Based on that, we think we are onto something.

So, the Music & Worship Committee again decided this year to move worship services to Wednesday nights this summer.

We know that summers are short here in northern Minnesota, and so summer weekends are precious. It’s hard for us to compete against that pull of the lakes or of travel on the weekends. And so we believe that by offering our services on Wednesday nights, we will again see a larger attendance than if we held services on Sundays in the summer.

This is another example of how we are trying to be flexible and adapt to our new reality as a church. Since we came together some 4 ½ years ago, we’ve had to try a lot of new things. This, of course, is required of a church that has a half-time pastor. But, then we’ve also had to react to many other factors since, including a pandemic.

What this tells me is that we will forever be needing to assess our situation and adapt as needed. I know that the Faith Lutheran Church Council and I both value the traditions that have been established here over generations in this church. But we also want to ensure that this church remains vital long into the future. And so I pray that we continue to look for ways to adapt to our situation.

I, for one, am excited about the summer months because I’ll get to see you each week at church. For a pastor, that actually makes preaching easier because it allows you to continue to build momentum from week to week in your sermons as you follow the lectionary readings. But it also means that I get to check in with our faith community each week in person, something which unfortunately isn’t the case in my every-other-week preaching schedule the rest of the year.

Faith Family, thank you for another incredible year here! There are too many amazing things that have happened this past year to call them all out. But please know that as your pastor that my heart is full!

Blessings to everyone! See you in church!