Last Sunday 38 families gathered for worship from our couches and beds and dining room tables. How hard it is to be separated during this time, and yet how amazing that real connection can be made over video screen and phone. How good to see your faces and hear your voices.
This is a very different way for us to be together. I know some of you had hoped never to have to learn how to Zoom, and yet have rolled up your sleeves and learned. Your worship leaders too are climbing a steep learning curve, as are the worship leaders in congregations all around the country. One senior minister told me recently “it’s like being a first year minister all over again- I have to re-learn how to do everything.” We small congregations already know one secret of vital ministry to one another in difficult times – keep it simple. Just come together, see each other’s faces, share message and music, and remember the love and interconnection that is at the heart of our faith.
How heartwarming that 3 congregations have banded together to make sure there is a worship we can call our own each week, where we can see the faces of our own congregation, and the new faces of our neighbors. We moved so quickly from 3 separate congregations scratching our heads in mid-march wondering how and when to cancel worship, to a cooperative and creative team adapting together.
Our model of sharing worship as co-equal hosts is innovative, and was lifted up by Rev. Evin Carvill Ziemer in their blog https://www.uua.org/leadership/library/congregation-buddies, encouraging other congregations to find new ways to share resources and avoid reinventing the wheel. The idea caught fire in our “ST. Lawrence” area, as other congregations considered how they could “buddy up.” The ministers in my cluster talked this week about shared worship as a way to provide backup should some of our ministers or worship leaders become sick and unable to lead worship. Our network is strong. We are there for each other.
Please continue to reach out to each other by phone and text and all your favorite “physical distancing” ways of connecting. This is the heart of who we are as a beloved community.
Yours,
Rev. Darcey Laine