All the nations you have made will come and worship before you, Lord; they will bring glory to your name. For you are great and do marvelous deeds; you alone are God. -- Psalms 86:9-10
 
What a privilege and honor it is to worship our God! I have been so blessed to be a worship leader and preacher for now over 34 years of ordained ministry. Every worship service I have received the joy of God’s presence of grace and love. But there also have been some challenges over the years, especially these past two years.  Our council at Hope has been considering some of these challenges for some time now.
 
At our last meeting, our church council was at a point where they wanted some congregational input. So they had an impromptu worship survey over two Sundays in June to get the opinions of the congregation to help their planning.
 
So as the council is striving follow God’s leading and to listen to our congregation, these are some summer changes:
 
Worship time in July and August will be at 9:45am.
We will have one service follow by the social time.
 
Also, we will also be:
 
Returning to intinction as a method to serve Holy Communion. This means that we will not have the individual prefilled communion cups. Bread (usually a wafer) will be given to dip into a cup of wine or grape juice.
 
For those who would like to participate, we will be having a potlucks again when there is a fifth Sunday of the month. So the next time for a potluck would be July 31 after our 9:45am worship.
 
We will not have the sharing of the peace in our worship at this time.
 
I know that there is a diversity of opinions, thoughts and feelings about these decisions. But hopefully, we can still be united in Christ in the challenges that we are presently facing.  Let us also practice being safe – stay home when you are sick, be careful with your health issues, etc.
 
Join with me in praying to God for the best way to worship in these times. May we be blessed by God’s precious Word, present our needs before the throne of God, and joyfully receive the Sacraments. May we together lift up our praises and thanksgivings to our one true God.
 
God’s blessings to you one and all.
Pastor Lou