Dear church, my what blooms surround us in these days! The peonies in my neighbor’s yard are absolutely lush and gorgeous. The melons and tomatoes I just planted are putting forth their first flowers. Continuing to behold the transformation in these plants are a visual reminder that we are always growing and blooming too by the power of the Holy Spirit.

When we come together for worship, we are watered, nurtured, and tended by our loving God. Worship is at the heart of our life together and a place where our roots can drink deep from the well of God’s wisdom, life and grace. This summer, we are making two changes to our worship life as a response to the needs of the congregation, after much discussion and discernment led by the worship, music and arts table; altar guild; and staff.

9:30am worship time – As I hope you’ve heard by now, we are shifting our worship to 9:30am from June – August. Several members have commented that 10:30am worship feels too late for the summer with the beauty of creation calling us outdoors. This 9:30am time also gives us a chance to try out a new rhythm, where hospitality time flows out of our worship and can be a time when new folks and old folks alike can experience community life and make connections.

Juice only for communion – We will be moving to juice only for communion as well. This is a way we embody Christ’s welcome to the table for members and visitors who are in recovery – and a way of showing that we indeed are one body that shares one cup. Unfortunately, we had an incident recently where someone in recovery accidentally had wine. It was very distressing for them – the opposite of what we hope for from holy communion (safety, belonging, abundant love for all). There are other Lutheran churches that do this in the Twin Cities – and other denominations, including Methodists, that exclusively use juice. In this same spirit, we are continuing to explore gluten free breads, without success yet…

Welcoming your insights – OSLC Council, staff, altar guild, and worship table leaders will be especially attentive to how these shifts feel, and we will be discerning mid-summer about whether to extend these holy experiments into the fall as well. We welcome you, dear church members and friends, as discernment partners.

Please reach out to staff and council members if you’d like to talk more.

Pastor Martha