Words of advice given to me by several friends (all experienced clergy) when I was about to be licensed to the parishes here were..."don't make any changes in your first year." Wise words...under normal circumstances. However, we find ourselves in anything but normal circumstances.
And here we are, living through the biggest change the Church has seen for centuries!
Many people are waiting for the day when a return to normal resumes...when the church doors will be open once again and the old pattern of worship services are back to what they were. Saying that, I know that not everyone was happy with the pattern of services that was in place! The closing of our churches has forced us to think about worship in other ways. Our parishes have gone online, with one service for anyone who wishes to join. We have had a mixed reactions and we are doing our best to improve how we do things. We have to be realistic though and to take the positives and lessons learned during this time and use it in our long-term plans to grow God's Kingdom in this place.
Many of you will have memories of church from your youth and I imagine that you will have seen a lot of changes over the years. The good old days when each church had it's own vicar... maybe two and a curate. Sundays when you had four service times to choose from (some of you might even attended church more than once each Sunday). Sundays, when everyone observed the Sabbath...no work to go to, no shops open or sports events to compete with! It was a day to rest. The days when the church was the hub of the community.
The pace of life has changed in recent years. Everyone seems to be in such a rush, always somewhere to go or someone to see. It seems that practically everyone has a mobile device of some sort in their hands wherever they go and they always have someone to ring, emails to check or social media to update. The internet changed the world as we knew it and the church has been slow to embrace the technology. Because of coronavirus, the church has finally had to start to get to grips with this 'new' avenue (the only one available at the moment) of public worship. The services are recorded and available to view at any time. In this world of choice and accessibility, people can 'tune in' with God whenever they want. When the church doors open once again...and they will...I wonder how many of our new online worshippers will be joining us...online?
And here we are, living through the biggest change the Church has seen for centuries!
Many people are waiting for the day when a return to normal resumes...when the church doors will be open once again and the old pattern of worship services are back to what they were. Saying that, I know that not everyone was happy with the pattern of services that was in place! The closing of our churches has forced us to think about worship in other ways. Our parishes have gone online, with one service for anyone who wishes to join. We have had a mixed reactions and we are doing our best to improve how we do things. We have to be realistic though and to take the positives and lessons learned during this time and use it in our long-term plans to grow God's Kingdom in this place.
Many of you will have memories of church from your youth and I imagine that you will have seen a lot of changes over the years. The good old days when each church had it's own vicar... maybe two and a curate. Sundays when you had four service times to choose from (some of you might even attended church more than once each Sunday). Sundays, when everyone observed the Sabbath...no work to go to, no shops open or sports events to compete with! It was a day to rest. The days when the church was the hub of the community.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6
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