The past 2 and a half years, from March of 2019 until September 2022 have been a time of huge upheaval and change in our world and in our faith community. I had the sermon written, the bulletins printed, and the ingredients purchased for Sunday March 15th in 2020 when all of a sudden that Friday the Bishop ordered us to close. It would be Easter Sunrise in April of 2021 before we held an in-person worship gathering and we didn’t open the Sanctuary until June of 2021. Online church evolved overtime and now we have a hybrid expression with some folks in the sanctuary and some folks watching via facebook live, Dinner church evolved as well going to zoom and then becoming dessert church in summer of 2021, so we could gather outside in person with popsicles! We resumed dinner in 2022 yet are still meeting outside these days.
It has been hard, and it has been beautiful. Being on Facebook has allowed us to connect with people who used to be in Portland, but have moved. We also have friends and family joining in. It was at online snack church that Morgan living in Tualatin who knew David through work and Matthew, his brother living in Idaho, first connected. They will be married next August!
Worshiping from home we found new ways to connect. We also discovered what we valued most in our gatherings, and what we missed, like sharing communion. It took me a while before I was comfortable with “virtual” communion, but now it’s part of our regular gatherings.
On September 11th at morning worship we decided to celebrate all we have come through and all we have learned with a pajama party and brunch. This idea began with a couple parishioners joking around on social media about a cartoon of a woman at church in her pajamas. I love that our faith community could see the joy in wearing pajamas and having a good cup of coffee during worship as one of the bonuses of this strange time. Joyfully recreating that on a Sunday in the sanctuary spoke to the resiliency, good humor, and joy that is this community. No matter what comes next in this life we will find the beauty in it, learn in the difficult moments, and find our way to be community loving and supporting one another as we serve God.
-Eilidh
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