August - Changes ahead

August - Changes ahead   
[Paul said to the elders of the church in Ephesus]: “My only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.” (Acts 20:24b.)
All summer, the council, the property team, and the worship team have been working hard preparing for the time when we can reopen and once again engage in person worship, fellowship and mission. Just in the last few days, I’ve decided to stop using the word “return” as in “return to in-person worship” and “return to in-person small groups.” The word “return” carries a lot of implications - like that we will be going backwards, that things will be as they were, that nothing will have changed. After a year and a half of having to “pivot” on an almost continuous basis to respond to ever-changing pandemic situations, I think most of us will agree that, even when this virus is under control, the world will have changed; we cannot return, we can only move forward.
Not to minimize the pain and loss that the pandemic has brought about for many, but some of the changes we’ve experienced have not been all bad. For example, we at Coastside Lutheran now have an online presence with Sunday Morning worship, the Women’s Daytime Gathering and the Diverse Stories Bookgroup continuing to meet throughout the pandemic online. We’ve been able to stay connected to each other, to people who have moved away, to folks in poor health, to those whose schedules would have prevented them from attending; and to be visible to the greater community. The online worship format has also opened up new opportunities for people to become involved as readers and worship assistants and to be on the technology team. (and we welcome and need more folks to be involved.)
Another example is the sandwich ministry. This ministry was started by Abundant Grace and embraced by CLC as a way of continuing to provide for hungry neighbors when the community breakfast had to shut down. It turns out that the sandwich ministry is a big hit and actually fills a slightly different need in the community than the breakfast, so the plan is to continue with it even after we start serving breakfast again in the fall.
The disruption in “business as usual” gives us a chance to take what we’ve learned and to construct our new normal. There are many conversations taking place throughout the larger church about how to do “Hybrid church;” taking the best of online and combining it with in person encounters. We are all sailing into this uncharted territory and it is going to require some trial-and-error, some experimentation, and lots of perseverance and patience!
This will be true for us at Coastside as well. For example, in July we began hybrid meetings of the Women’s Daily Gathering and the Diverse Stories Book group with some folks meeting in person and others participating via zoom. In general, both were successes although we discovered that we need to upgrade the microphone on my computer so those on Zoom can hear better and we need to figure out a better arrangement for the camera.
In August, we will be transitioning our worship format from “pre-recorded” to “live-streaming” in preparation for in-person/online in September. This will require huge leaps in the technology we are using and the way we are doing things on Sunday morning. Worship will look different in August and the worship and technology teams ask for your patience as we make this transition. Please hang in there with us!
Our plan is to “broadcast” the worship team only live from the Sanctuary starting in August. Initially this will be a bare bones Zoom feed as we transition our internet connection. We will also be creating a high definition recording similar to what we’ve grown accustomed to seeing on Sunday morning and this recording will be posted on Facebook and YouTube for viewing later in the day for your convenience or in case the Zoom feed drops. Over time (and hopefully a very short amount of time), we will be able to “broadcast” the high definition feed on Sunday morning.  In September, when the entire community begins to gather for in-person worship, you will also notice some changes in the sanctuary that will enable Hybrid online/in-person worship.
One thing that hasn’t changed through all of this is, as St. Paul says, “the task the Lord Jesus has given [us]—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.” Christ continues to call us to share the good news of God’s redemptive love through word and deed through the means at our disposal and to persevere in that task. Keep watching the weekly emails the latest updates on the reopening plans. Contact me if you have questions or want to get involved with any of these ministries.

​Blessings, Pastor Sue 
 
  
Join the fun! Get Involved!
 
The Technology team will train people:

• To run Power point on Sunday morning,
• Interested in learning how to run the livestream.

 
The Worship team invites people to (be):

• Readers and worship assistants
• Ushers (starting Sept 12)
• Prepare communion (Altar guild)

 
Outreach ministry opportunities: 

• Sandwich ministry
• Community Breakfast  (Wednesdays and Thursdays starting mid-September)

 
If you are interested in learning more about being a Hybrid church: you can find recording of a webinar series on the subject hosted by the Southwest Texas Synod here: https://www.swtsynod.org/pages/events)