Beginning to Meet Together Again

The Old Testament books of Ezra and Nehemiah tell the story of God’s people returning to Jerusalem from exile with the blessing of their pagan rulers, and their efforts to restore Israel to the splendor it knew before the captivity in Babylon. In the third chapter of Ezra, the foundation for the new temple is laid. What follows is one of the more puzzling displays of emotion in all of Scripture: “And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord… all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping.” Blended together in this one wave of sound are lamentations, songs of gratitude, disappointment that the new temple will not be as glorious as the former, and so much more.

I point us to this passage because, beginning in May, we will return to in-person Eucharistic worship at Christ Church Anglican, and I think our return will be like this scene from the building of the second temple. Exactly what form that worship will take is, in large part, contingent on the decisions made by the government and health officials, but is most likely going to mean beginning with services of ten or fewer people. Of course, this means that we will not all be able to worship together, or even on Sunday, but in small groups over the course of the week in our Sanctuary. We will provide further details on exactly what this means next week, but rest assured, we are not returning to the worship we knew before, at least not this month. To spin this positively, we can all agree that God’s people and the world need more Eucharistic worship right now instead of less.

All services held will be conducted according to social-distancing guidelines and sanitation practices for the time being. Most importantly, I am asking for our prayer networks to pray for God’s blessings and protection over our re-opening. We will continue to record services in their entirety for parishioners who either can not or should not attend in-person services at this time, even while resuming in-person worship for others. Please refrain from sending any questions you have at this time until our detailed communications next week.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Matt