Dear friends in Christ,
Of the many sacrifices we have been required to make because of the pandemic, one of the most difficult has been a diminished liturgy. At first, of course, during the height of COVID, we were prevented from gathering in person at all, and were compelled to move our liturgical life to an online platform. As things improved somewhat last spring, we were able to resume in-person worship, outside at first when the weather was warm, and then eventually inside. As we moved inside, however, we had to endure significant restrictions necessary for our health and safety: mask wearing; social distancing; limitations on singing; a shortened service to minimize the amount of time people are gathered; restrictions on eucharistic practice; to name just a few.
Now that infection rates are beginning to decline, and public health officials are relaxing some of these restrictions, your Council, Worship Committee and Interim Pastor have met and concluded that we can gradually resume some important aspects of our worshipping life. Accordingly, while social distancing is required and masks continue to be recommended, beginning in Lent, in other respects you will begin to see a return to some familiar patterns of worship:
Communion: While the current "communion kits" will still be available for those who wish to use them, commencing with our Ash Wednesday services we will return to consecrating the bread and the wine on the altar and distributing it in our customary manner (with the important exception that we will of course not be using a "common cup," but individual, disposable cups for the wine). In addition, we will return to a somewhat more expanded communion liturgy (adding back in, for example, the sanctus and longer versions of eucharistic prayers). My hope is that a safe and cautious resumption of more "normal" patterns of communion will help to restore and renew us as a worshipping community.
Music: Likewise, you will begin to hear more music in the liturgy, including, for example, the return of a hymn for the day, a kyrie or canticle of praise before the lessons, and perhaps other additions. While masks will still be a necessary safeguard for singing, we can at least enjoy a more robust musical element to our worship life.
Your participation in leading worship: Finally, but just as importantly, I hope that more of you will be able to participate as lectors, prayer leaders, and communion assistants. The liturgy does not belong to the pastor but is rather a shared ministry with the people, and it becomes more meaningful as more of us lend our gifts to leading it. Mark Donahue will be accepting volunteers to serve in these roles and I invite you to contact him if you feel called to serve during Lent.
All of these changes may not happen at once, but we will move to introduce them as quickly as we safely can, always keeping our eye on the guidance we're receiving from health and safety officials and the synod. The season of Lent seems like an appropriate time to be enriching our worshipping life in these ways, and I hope this comes to you as good news. I'll be saying more about these matters in the coming Sundays.
Faithfully, Pastor Luther