What’s Going On? Holy and Dearly Loved
Dearly loved and holy ones,
We read Colossians 3:12-17 together and did a little shared Lectio Divina at a recent staff meeting (this is one of the Guided Prayer Retreat selections). Together we marveled at how before Paul reminds us to be compassionate, kind, humble, gentle, etc.--he first says that followers of Christ are “holy and dearly loved.” Before we even begin to practice kindness, we are gifted holiness and we are dearly loved.
I found that as the meeting went on, this scripture passage influenced our conversation. We discussed how, with many children being in the service on Easter Sunday, some congregants found the sound of the “pop-its” (the popping fidgets) to be a nuisance. We reflected on how both the children who used them and the adults who were inconvenienced are holy and dearly loved members of the body of Christ. And we wondered what it would look like to exercise gentleness and patience with both children who abound with energy and adults who prefer a quiet worship space. Of course the children are only in the sanctuary for the whole service occasionally, so this is not a weekly challenge. The staff decided, as a group, that in kindness to the adult worship experience, we would remove the noisier fidgets from the basket. And, in kindness and with patience for young minds that are more engaged in the worship experience when their fidgety hands are occupied, we would leave many of the fidgets in the basket to be used.
How do we bear patiently and compassionately with one another and also enthusiastically welcome everyone into the body? This is an ongoing challenge, and not only with age differences. I am often sitting outside of the sanctuary with my daughter, Anna, who is autistic. The loudness of many voices singing along with instruments overwhelms her, so she sits either in the fireside room or the foyer during worship. On Easter Sunday we sat with two others in the foyer who were there due to physical needs like pain and positioning. We dragged chairs together so we could sit together. It struck me that we were outside of the fireside room, because being “with” the congregation felt good, like fellowship. (Just as some members have told me that worshiping “alone” in the fireside room doesn’t appeal to them). But if there were more than four of us, then perhaps sitting together in the fireside room might also feel like good fellowship. I know many in our congregation find the sanctuary a hard place to be for a variety of reasons and at different times. Back pain, anxiety, migraines, the need to move our bodies, the desire for a closer washroom (there is one right by the fireside room), etc–much can keep us from sitting in a pew in the sanctuary. On GEMS Sunday, a few members worshiped in the fireside room as well, and we let them know they could adjust the sound to their liking.
I would like to encourage our congregation to consider that the sanctuary of our church reaches to the outer walls of the building. (And, of course, we connect to many sanctuaries in living rooms all over our region, though these can be lonely spaces at times.) We broadcast the service in the foyer and fireside room to extend this sanctuary. If you are in the inner sanctuary and feel uncomfortable, I encourage you to make use of the sanctuary space in the foyer or fireside room. And if you are worshiping at home due to any of the reasons mentioned above, then I encourage you to join us here as well. If there are too many of us in the foyer to fit easily, then we will certainly have enough people to feel a sense of fellowship in the fireside room. Wherever we worship, let’s remember that before, during, and after our gestures of kindness and patience towards one another, we are all holy and dearly loved by the God who makes our spaces sacred with the presence of his Holy Spirit.
Pastor Jolene
