A Stable Faith by Rev. Shayna Appel
Oh my God it’s December! I have now been with you all for one quarter of a year. Where did that time go?
Well, I could give you a list actually, but I’ll spare you!
If you’ve been to the website recently and you are a person who notices small changes, you will notice that, by the picture of the church where it used to say, “Closed Due to Covid-19,” it now says, “Our building may be closed…but church goes on!”
And it does! From our weekly worship to the Holiday Fair, from board meetings and committee meetings to small group ministries, from the ongoing work of the Friday Guys to the amazing move of the church office into the Olympia Brown room, church is indeed going on! Thank you to all who make it thus. Your commitment and tenacity during these difficult times is noticed and appreciated!
For any who are wondering about our Christmas Eve service, it too is going on! Because we are limited to a Zoom format, the Worship Committee and I decided that a traditional Lessons & Carols service would be best this year. You will hear the Christmas Story told, you will be invited to sing along on familiar carols, and we are even working out how to finish the evening with candle light and the singing of Silent Night.
Everything IS different beloveds, and not all for the better. I know. But hang in there because there are many reasons to be hopeful as well. I know I yearn for the time when we will be able to congregate in person again, and I do believe that time will come…soon.
As we settle into the month of December, New England winter and our worship theme of ‘Stillness’ I am reminded of the hauntingly beautiful words of our hymn;
Find the stillness, hold a stillness, let the stillness carry me.
Find the silence, hold the silence, let the silence carry me.
In the spirit, by the spirit, with the spirit giving power,
I will find true harmony.
May the stillness and the silence be our guides, and may we all know true harmony.
Sending you all BIG Love-
Rev. Shayna