“How are you?”
It is the question I keep asking and the question I keep getting asked. And after a little more than a month of safer-at-home orders followed; I am beginning to wonder how I really am? Truthfully, I am doing better than I expected at this moment in the journey. As the world and our daily living has been reshaped by this pandemic, I am struck by the creativity and adaptability of not only my wife and children, but by my colleagues across thousands of congregations and by everyday people. It is the first time in my life where I can say with confident surprise, “Look how far we have come, without going anywhere!”
I have pondered for some time the direction of this May article. I have struggled with what is most important for me to share with you. Ascension, our faith community, is strong. Without much additional preparation, we entered a new world of worship fully online. It is of course different and difficult to lead worship in a space with no one to reflect the energy and joy of engaging in the communal act of worship. Yet, we have found the opportunity to offer authentic and genuine worship experiences to the world outside the walls of our sanctuary. Some small groups are meeting by video conference, though most of our small groups are staying connected by email, prayer requests and the old school telephone calls. Our ministries with the Hope Center, Food Bank, and Cross continue to extend God’s love into our community.
With great sacrifice and love, you tended the building after long years of deferred maintenance and that sacrifice, and love have allowed a usually filled to the brim with activities building to slow down to a trickle of staff to maintain the basics of ministry. No roof is leaking, no siding is peeling off, no HVAC is breaking down, no mice have invaded – all of which I am grateful for in this time when we are doing our very best to keep the important things – the important things. After the closing of the building – we had the building deep cleaned and disinfected by our cleaning company. After the cleaning was complete, Tamie Greenwood, administrator for Joyful Worship and Spiritual Growth, removed every pencil, paper, hymnal, and visitor pad from the sanctuary and bleach-wiped every single item. Chairs and pews were wiped down. Since that cleaning was completed, only minimal worship staff have been in the sanctuary and only two staff people have entered the building. Cloverleaf Preschool, who rents much of the Spiritual Growth Wing, continues to stay open and is limited to the Spiritual Growth Wing. We are cleaning that area twice a week. It is a different feel, to walk through the church and hear no laughter, no studying, no praying, no music. For now, the church is just a shell, waiting for you to return to bring life and joy to the space once again.
Financially, Ascension is also standing strong – thanks to your generous hearts and faithfulness. As you will read later on in our Treasurer’s article, giving in March was consistent and our electronic giving increased. I am also grateful to each of you who took the time to mail in your offering or fulfill your yearly pledge earlier in the year to tend the needs of the church. It bears repeating – that I am grateful for your faithfulness to our God and to the ministries entrusted to Ascension during these days.
I will also take time to share with you the incredible reach of our online worship services through Facebook, our website and our YouTube channel. We expected that many people would go online. We did not expect that many of you would share worship on Facebook via your own pages. We are also overwhelmed at the response to our Spanish Worship. Edwin and Sarah Aparicio have been holding their own in planning, preparing, and executing worship from start to finish with video recording as well. We received news that during this pandemic in El Salvador that many people are viewing our Spanish worship. It is an incredible gift and moment of hope that the people of Ascension provide far beyond the borders of the state of Wisconsin. We expect to continue to offer recorded worship through the entire month of May believing that even if the safer-at home order is lifted, we still may be constrained for the amount of people who will be able to gather at one time. Of course, God might surprise us. The heat might reduce the power and scope of the virus. Time will tell. At this point, Ascension’s staff and leadership are asking questions about how we will return to life, knowing that, at least for a time, life will not be as it was before the pandemic arrived at our doors. We are reflecting on questions around communion practices, sharing of the peace, passing the offering plate, greeting at the doors, coffee stations, and a multitude of other ministry items. We are seeking guidance and asking more questions.
In the world of Ascension, there are three Ps for the days ahead: Proaction, Preparation, Prevention. Those words are shaping our expected return to worship in the near future. I am grateful for Director of Care Ministries Brenda Lytle and other medical professionals within our congregation for their sage advice in these most strange days of life and ministry.
All that being said, I am also wanting to ask you to continue your prayers for those in our community who are struggling with their health or afraid to leave their homes for their ongoing health conditions that make them more susceptible to the coronavirus. We have members who own their own businesses and are afraid for their futures. Students are missing out on milestone moments including graduations from high school and college. Most importantly, as we have said for so long, social media can only offer so much to each us to connect in relationship. And so I ask for your prayers for our community as we all struggle with the loss of engaged relationships with face-to-face interactions. It will take time to both move forward in our world and process our grief at what has been lost over the past months – both in relationship and in life. In the meantime, I will invite you to remember the words I offered in the first video I posted after the Church Council voted to close the church campus to in-person activities: from John, Chapter 1, “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.” Those words are my never ceasing prayer and reminder as many of us are feeling more and more disconnected.
I am excited to dream about our first Sunday back in worship: to hear your voices lifted up in song; to hear us speak the words of our confession of faith together; to offer you a word of forgiveness in-person; to celebrate the gift of children running up for children’s time; to preach to a room full of faces (I will try to keep it under 18 minutes); and to join with my brothers and sisters in the celebration of communion – gathering together once again to offer promise and peace and a tangible sign of God’s love and presence in the world.
Until I can see you in church, trust that I am seeing your faces in my prayers.
Pastor Chris
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