The Perfect Gift for the Pastor of Your Church

In light of our recent posts! Check out The Definitive-ish Guide to for Using Social Media in the Church by Bruce Reyes-Chow.

I was part of a webinar with this dude and he knows what he's talking about! Worth a look!

The Four Websites Your Church Will Ever Need

At least until the next 4 websites come along and replace these. But these will do for now!

Facebook
Today there are 800 million people on Facebook and of those, 350 million people connect to Facebook on mobile devices. Facebook is not just for college students any more as the fastest growing segment happens to the Baby Boomers.

Some churches are using Facebook as their primary website. You don't have to belong to Facebook to view material on the site. This keeps the site updated and current. Better to have no website than to have one that's not current!

One of the best resources on how a church can embrace and use Facebook was written by Danielle Hartland's which you can read by clicking here.

Wordpress or Blogger
You not only need to create a church website, you need to MAINTAIN one too. And there's the problem for most churches. Most church websites are poorly maintained. Many start out looking great and end up abandoned.

Why not use a blogging platform like Wordpress or Blogger? These tools are all online. You sign up for a site, go to your site, sign in, and access the site's dashboard control panel to post new announcements, photos, and make design changes. This means you you can manage your site from ANY computer in the world as long as you have the password to your account. No software to download or install.

You can have a pastor's blog, an "about the church," directions to get to your location, and tons of other stuff! Here's an imaginary church example to inspire you!

Podomatic
The church where I serve, Sylvania UCC, had audio recordings up on the website since 2010. But no one knew this. So we decided to use Podomatic, because in one click, they can have our sermons sent directly to their iTunes account... and it's all FREE. You can pay around $100 for extra storage and bandwidth, but if you're only putting up 4 or 5 at a time and not using the site to archive a whole year of preaching, you should be fine. Check out Sylvania's Podomatic site here.

The cool thing about podcasts is that your peeps can download the MP3 of your sermon and take it with them on their iPods, iPhones, iPads, whatever. Unlike Youtube, they can take the sermon in their car or out for a run. Plus most churches don't have the capacity to do a good video presentation of the sermons and most people I know don't want to look at a talking head for 20 minutes. So audio is the way to go here, IMHO.

Plus I also started my own podcast, the PLP to discuss whatever I want... like my trip to Chautauqua or whether or not you can believe in ghosts and still be a Christian.

MailChimp
Use MailChimp if you ever dream of doing online newsletter. You can do full color, interactive, professional looking PAPERLESS newsletters that are sent directly to your congregant's email. It's like NWOA's The Vine. It is also free. There's a pay option as well, but there's not much bang for your buck and most things you can do for free.

The Case for Social Media

Okay.

We've covered the ethics, the landscape, and a bit of the history of social media.

We checked out some of the problems it has caused and how it has affected our society and how it's even rewiring our brains.

Now I hope to argue for why you and your congregation should jump straight into the strange and ever-changing landscape of social media.

I will outline the three big reasons to do so. Please feel free to question, disagree, and add your own perspective here.

1. Old Media is Expensive. New Media is Free. 
A Florida pastor decides to host "Burn a Koran Day." Not one of the traditional media channels cover his offensive event. Not print. Not TV. Not even radio (and there's lots of crazy stuff on the AM channels!). Yet this pastor of a church of under 100 sets off riots in the Middle East.

How?

Youtube.

This is a negative example. But it holds power.

Through the use of social media, your church is not just local (like the diner place-mat ads we take out). Your church is not just national (like we can't afford). It's GLOBAL. 

Through the use of social media, we can by-pass the traditional channels of evangelisim/marketing/advertising. And we do this at no financial cost. The only cost is learning how to use the tools. Even that is free and easy as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and many others, all have super helpful tutorial sections on their sites.

2. Increased Visitor Traffic
1 in every 9 people on the planet is on Facebook.
Traditional Websites and Social Media Sites reach 80% of those who are already on the internet.*

Odds are extremely good that a first visit to your church will be via the internet. When visitors show up, they already have a sense of what your church is about. What we have on our hands are free tools to help us be "Fishers of People" (Matt 4:9). The mission of the church is to go and make disciples (Matt 28:19) and the web is an invaluable tool to help you attract visitors.

3. If You're Not Online, Who is?
I'm sure your congregation is the nicest bunch of people on the planet. I'm sure your liturgy and theology are rock solid and rooting in Scripture, your tradition, and history of your community. But how will visitors know this if you're not on the web?

And who is on the web? That Florida pastor is. And that's not good for all Christians in general.
The church down the block is.
The mega-church in your area is.
You don't have to have the massive, expensive production that they do. You just have to communicate clearly what your about and that will attract people.

So go out and be a blessing that bends the internet towards the good (like Paul Rausenbush stated).

Get your community online and start fishing for people (like Jesus stated).

*From Toni Birdsong's Social Media presentation

Social Media Outreach Resource

Hey Group! I hope this series has been informative thus far.

I was recently at a conference given by Toni Birdsong. Toni is a media consultant and co-author of the book Sticky Jesus. I thought that what she had to say would be incredibly helpful to you. And guess what?

Through the miracle that is the interwebz, you can check out her slides from her presentation! Just click here!

This presentation will help you

• Understand the social media frontier
• Shift your thinking
• Formulate a game plan for your church

Please let me know what you found helpful or whatever questions that popped up while you were reading.

Otis Moss III: Digital Faith and Analogue Religion

The Rev. Otis Moss III (OM3) is the pastor at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. Trinity is the largest church in our denomination. 

While Trinity has been known for its social programs on behalf of the disadvantaged, the church is starting to be known for taking the lead in digital outreach as well.

The church has a membership of 7,500. On an average Sunday, 5,000 to 5,500 people attend service in person while at the same time 3,000 attend virtually. Recently, the church updated its technology to become even more interactive. The church has an active Facebook page, Twitter handle and an e-newsletter, which is delivered to 8,500 people. It even has electronic giving, which now supports 18% of the church’s budget.

All of this is done at minimal cost to the church. Most of the digital tools that Trinity employs are free to use. Facebook, Twitter, MailChimp (an e-newsletter site) and Youtube are all free to use. All it takes is time. And odds are you already have someone in your congregation that knows how to use these sites. But more on that in the next post.

To hear OM3 (that's his Twitter handle by the way) talk more about how digital culture can work for your church, please check out his lecture from Chautauqua from this past summer.

The Internet as a Blessing and a Curse

This summer, Luke Lindon was the chaplain for the United Church of Christ Society at the Chautauqua Institution. He heard a great talk by Paul Raushenbush entitled, "BEHOLD! I set before you a blessing and a curse; the internet and our spiritual life."

You can watch the full lecture here:


The main thing to lift up from the lecture is “One thing is very clear: The Internet and the technologies involved with it are not going away,” Raushenbush said. According to a poll administered by Pew Research Center in 2011, 79 percent of religiously active Americans use the Internet.

Whether you're looking up a scripture passage, looking for worship materials, or reading the UCC Daily Devotional; the internet is part of your spiritual life.

Yet many view the internet as a hostile place. Raushenbush states “It’s all about the intention. There’s good and bad — it’s what we bring to it.” Raushenbush stated that the internet is a useful tool, perhaps the most remarkable, at delivering information. There are blessings and curses that go with this tool. The trick is being actively engaged in social media and the internet so that we, as Raushenbush stated at the end of the lecture, "how we — all of you — can be a part of the force that bends the Internet away from the curse and towards the blessing."

The hope of the Faith Formation Team in this series is to get your comfort level with the "new media" up so that your church can be a force of blessing on the internet.

What are your thoughts on this talk? Was it helpful in laying out the issues of the internet? Are there lingering doubts or concerns that weren't addressed? Do you have a story of the internet being part of your spiritual life and blessing it?

Getting Your Church Wired

A Digital Church

Introducing our fall project: 

Getting Your Church Wired: A helpful guide to social media, online ethics and your congregation. 

The internet has given our churches new tools to use for evangelism, yet many churches don't know about these tools or fear them. The Faith Formation Team will guide you through the ethical use of these tools, what tools are helpful (and which aren't), and how to create opportunities for connection throughout the week (not just Sunday morning).

If you’re looking for resources, helpful tips, or even how to ethically use the internet then this series is for you. You can send any questions, comments, or requests for topics you want covered to Luke Lindon, lukeATsylvaniauccDOTorg. 

Why did we spell out Luke's email like that? Well, here's your first tip: to avoid spammers who search the internet for email links! Luke doesn't want to be notified of the lottery he has won in Gambia, his long-lost royal relative's inheritance, or his Russian bride. He does want your requests for topics, issues, and questions. So please, send away!

Thanks!

Social Media for Congregations Event

This fall, the Faith Formation Team's theme will be "Getting Your Church Wired: A helpful guide to social media, online ethics and your congregation."

It seems that the Ohio Conference also thought that this would be a good idea. They are hosting two events that fall under this theme. Click on this link to see the invitation and sign up!

Where & When Friday, September 28, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Bath UCC 3980 W. Bath Road Bath, Ohio 44333 Map/Directions Saturday, September 29, 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. St. John's Church 59 E. Mound Street Columbus, Ohio 43215 Map/Directions

Reformatting

The Faith Formation Team is hard at work! We will get you (pastors and lay leaders) more resources for advent, lent and summer!

Until then, may you feel the movement of the Spirit in the warm breezes of summer. May the sun warm your skin and remind you of your Creator's love. And may you have a meal on the beach with friends like Christ. In God's many names, Amen.

A Great Liturgical Resource

If you are looking for a one-stop-shop for fresh liturgy, look no further than the blog re:Worship. Christine Longhurst is the author of the blog and pulls from a variety of online resources. 

The site is easy to navigate and well labeled. Say if you were looking for a call to worship for Easter 7 Year B, you would be able to find it quite easily on the right hand side under "labels." 

I use re:Worship when I have to plan worship and find that is a great resource.

Textweek Resource

Are you looking for creative ways to put together liturgy? Do you have an upcoming Children's Moment to lead? Are you involved in a lectionary-based Bible study? Are you preaching next week?

If you answered, "Yes" to any of these questions, you might want to check out www.textweek.com. Textweek.com is a lectionary-based site that has gathered resources from all over the Web. From the site, you can research upcoming texts, read sermons, match movies and music to scripture, and discover options for children. 

Easter Morning Celebration Ideas

Here is a list of ideas generated by the our team here. We're still looking for submissions, so if you have any thoughts or ideas, send 'em our way!

• Place ribbons with the world Alleluia on them and on Easter morning, the ribbons are tied to balloons and released in the sanctuary
• Decorate the railing and entrance to the church with helium balloons to give a festive feel
• Hold an Easter Breakfast
• Have a cross with notes people would like forgiveness for placed up with tacts or nails throughout Lent and on Easter Sunday those notes are burned or simply gone
• Have people write on rice paper things for which they want to be forgiven for and then on Easter morning they are placed in the Baptism font where they dissolve
• Host a Holy Humor Sunday the Sunday after Easter to continue the laughter and joy of the resurrection.

Looking for Submissions!

Hey, are ya still reading this here blog?

Has it helped you in planning for Lent at all?

If so, GREAT!

If not, boy do we have a once-in-a-lifetime chance for you! We are taking submissions for Holy Week and Easter services! You can get your great idea published in a blogpost to help out your fellow clergy, lay-leaders, and worship planners! Let’s resource our ideas and share!

So what has worked in the past? A Palm Sunday Luncheon? A children’s pageant? An Eastern Morning Sunrise service where part of the service is held outside and your praise band drummer floats above the congregation for a solo?! Okay, maybe not the last part… but we’d love to hear your ideas. Please email Luke at luke AT sylvaniaucc DOT org your ideas for worship.

Help us form the faith and make disciples! God bless!

Resources from Marilyn Deever

Websites : http://www.ucc.org/justice/health/faithfully-facing-dying/

Resources: Books, Drama, Readings, Activities Paetkau, Henry, Reflections by Candlelight. Contemporary Drama Service, Meriwether Publishing LTD, Colorado Springs, CO 80933. Readings for the Sundays of Lent and Easter

Dyck, Paul, The Lenten Candles. Contemporary Drama Service. A series of Lenten calls to worship

Shiplett, Gary R. The Lenten Banner: Contemporary Drama Service. A visual portrayal of the last days in the life of Jesus Christ. This is a bannerkit that includes banner design instructions and scripts for a banner presentation liturgy.

Reese, Rolland R. From My Point of View: Ten Dialogues on the Passion. CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio. This resource presents twelve persons who played crucial roles in the death/resurrection event of Jesus Christ.

Stoner, Marcia Joslin, Seasons of Faith :Teaching the Christian Year For Intergenerational Use. Abingdon Press. Nashville, Tennessee. Worship activities, Lenten studies, and activities are on pages 65 through 106.

Griggs, Donald L. Discovering the Psalms: Passion, Promise and Praise. The Kerygma Program. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15234. Online: www.kerygma.com . This is a deep exploration of the Psalms particularly recommended for Lent or a special study on spirituality. It includes 49 days of guided reading of the Psalms. The Leader’s Guide is available on a two-disk set–lesson plans in PDF form and a slide presentation. The image JPEGs of maps, art, prayers, etc may be used to create presentations for use in a variety of ways.

Whitcomb, Holly. Feasting with God. Out of Print but can be found at www.Amazon.com

Fasting and Feasting: Mission and Outreach

Goal: Outreach/intentional welcome to new members, young families, elderly, (especially homebound) and all members and friends

Suggestion: Shrove Tuesday “feast” at church before Lent begins!

Sounds and Silence: Mission and Outreach

Goal: To remember and meditate on those around the community and around the world who are silenced. The oppressed, the hungry, the forgotten.

Suggestion: Commit to spend 15 minutes each day to be in silence/solidarity with those who are silenced
Or/ commit to one entire day of Lent to silence (this means no TV, no radio, internet, etc.)

Giving up and Taking on: Mission and Outreach

Goal: To remember each day what Jesus gave up on his way to the cross. Money raised goes to a mission project.

Suggestion: Make drawstring pouches or buy coin cards to place change in each day (five days each week). Creatively list “luxuries” we enjoy as memos for giving. Examples could be:
          One day give 5 cents for each light bulb in the house
          One day contribute all your spare change
          One day give a dime for every desert eaten that day

Giving and Receiving: Mission and Outreach

Goal: To secretly surprise someone who is alone, ill, or grieving with a care basket or gift.

Suggestion: Without being found out, deliver or send a gift of flowers, baked goods, or poems. If unable to deliver, send a real letter delivered by snail mail

Nature and Nurture: Mission and Outreach

Goal: To organize a community garden in the congregation

Suggestion: Individuals arrange details: place, promotion, seeds, etc.

Goal: To simplify and declutter one’s life during Lent

Suggestion: Organize a rummage sale to sell unwanted items. Money raised will go to mission projects

Sabbath and Service: Mission and Outreach

Goal: To volunteer in local settings

Suggestion: Commit to donating one hour each week to volunteer locally, in the schools, food pantry, over-night shelter, or mission-oriented institution.

Or: Commit each member to attend church each week. Have available commitment cards to be signed (and kept by signer) to commit to both volunteer hours and worship

Old and New: Mission and Outreach

Goal: For a congregation to learn more about new mission partners

Suggestion: Invite a newer mission partner spokesperson to preach or give a Mission Moment in worship. Also, an article about this mission partner could be placed in the church’s newsletter

Worship Themes Are Up!

All of our worship themes are now posted. Hope you will find something that is workable for your congregation. We would love to know how they worked out for you or what improvements or changes you made in the liturgy.

We will now post the Mission and Outreach and these are rather short suggestions, so we will post two a week. One on Monday and one on our traditional Wednesday date.

Giving and Receiving Worship Theme

HOOK: When people arrive have them chooses two stones from a basket (you could have stones with words written one them or beads of different colors). At the opening of the service, have people walk around and welcome people to the space, even if they are new to the space. Each person simply says welcome and hands someone one of their stones. The other person returns the gracious hospitality by too offering words of welcome and the giving of one of their stones to the other. At the end of the exercise, everyone should have one original stone and one new stone from another in their hands.

THEME: Giving and Receiving. This theme focuses on hospitality and the idea that hospitality is a two-way street.

SCRIPTURE: -Gen 18:1-10; Matthew25.41-45; Luke (Mary and Martha); Hebrews 13.2

EXPERIENCE: * Story: In wisdom literature, there is a Japanese story of the difference between heaven and hell, but after reading it…what I saw in the story related to our worship theme of hospitality. In replacing the words heaven and hell with hospitality and inhospitality, a great image of the difference appears:

“Long ago in Japan an old woman wanted to see for herself the difference between hospitality and inhospitality. The monks in the temple agreed to grant her request. ‘First you shall see inhospitality,’ they said as they put a blindfold over her eyes. When the blindfold was removed the old woman stood at the entrance to a great hall. The hall was filled with round tables each piled high with the most delicious feast- meats, vegetables, fruits of every kind, and desserts to make your mouth water. The old woman noticed that there were people seated just out of arm’s reach of the tables. Their bodies were thin and their pale faces convulsed with frustration. They held chopsticks almost three feet long. With the chopsticks they could reach the food, but they could not get the food back into their mouths. As the old woman watched, a hungry, angry sound rose into the air. ‘Enough,’ she said. ‘let me see hospitality.’ When the blindfold was removed a second time, the old woman rubbed her eyes. For there she stood again at the entrance of a great hall with tables piled high with the same scrumptious feast. Again she saw the people sitting just out of arm’s reach of the food with those long chopsticks. But the people [at that banquet] were plump and rosy-cheeked, and as she watched, the musical sound of laughter filled the air.

And then the old woman laughed, for now she understood the difference. The people experiencing hospitality were using those three-foot long chopsticks to feed each other.” Life requires both giving and receiving…true hospitality flows both ways. –I do not know the name of the author-author unknown to me

-have people talk of their experiences of hospitality within your church; what are your strengths as a church and what are your growth areas; and where is God?

SENDING:
This week may you see the Christ in the other and may they see the Christ in you. Amen.

-By Becky Jones, Pastor

Table of Contents

Hey NWOA Blog readers!

Our table of contents is now up and running. You can click on a theme and anything with that label will pop up. Anything includes worship liturgies, outreach ideas, and so on.

Hope this helps with your Lenten planning! Blessings!

Taking on and Giving up Worship Theme

HOOK: Have someone stand at the front of the space with a hula-hop around them. The person should be in the center of the circle. Slowly, begin to add things into the circle with the person. Soon, there will be so much stuff in the circle that you can either not see the person (bury them under the stuff) or they are pushed out of their comfortable circle. The things that are added should be things that take up our time, even if they are “good” things. You could also label the “stuff” or the things that take up our time, even the ‘good’ things, on sticky notes and place the sticky notes all over the person so that all you end up seeing is sticky notes and barely any of the person.

THEME: Giving up and Taking on. This theme centers upon self-care and healthy boundaries.

SCRIPTURE: Ecclesiastes 3.1-8

EXPERIENCE: We know self-care/healthy boundaries includes: eating a healthy diet; exercising; getting enough sleep; balance of work and play; knowing how to say no; etc. How does God fit into a self-care equation? This would be a great time to lead the congregation in a guided meditation. You could also lead the congregation in centering prayer. Also, for an out-of-the-box experience, you could open the space and have various types of prayer experiences set-up for the congregation, such as a labyrinth, a reading corner with various books on prayer with such authors as Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr. etc., maybe have mandalas to color, maybe have a place to create prayer beads, etc. Be creative! The point is to have various ways that people can intentionally take time to connect with God and maybe learn a new way to stay connected daily with God.

SENDING:
God, bless us with the courage to care for ourselves. Be with as we learn new ways to be intentional about caring for our bodies, our time, our boundaries and our relationships, including intentionally carving out time to be in communion with you. Amen.

-By Becky Jones, Pastor

Saving and Sharing Worship Theme

HOOK: On the altar, have three large clear cups or vases. Leave one empty, one half-filled with colored water and the third completely filled with colored water. Where are the people in your congregation? They may find that they are full in one area of their life and empty in another. Are they trying to give out of their abundance or out of their emptiness? Are they saving rather than giving in their areas of abundance?

THEME: Sharing and Saving. The theme centers upon stewardship. What is the balance between saving for our own needs and sharing out of our abundance with others? This could be viewed as the balance between saving and sharing, both personally and communally, our energy, our time, our spirituality, our financial resources, our gifts, our opinions, etc. How does God fit into our sense of both sharing and saving?

SCRIPTURE: Ecclesiastes 3.1-8 (if not already used for another service)

EXPERIENCE: Have an interactive dialog with the congregation. Ask them where they are full, half-filled and empty, both personally and communally. What do they need to fill them? What are they able to share out of their abundance? How does God fit into the three categories? Where is God in their emptiness, full-ness and the in-between? You can have people write down their personal answers, however really think about people discussing openly about the places where they see the congregation. Where would the congregation like to share the abundance and where do they need to save to fill any emptiness? You could have people break into small groups to discuss these questions and others you would like to ask. End with intercessory prayer, lifting those places where the community needs to save and where they can share.

SENDING:
May God flow from our spaces of abundance as we share with others and may God continue to breathe life into us in times of emptiness. May we find the balance between saving and sharing and may we look for God’s presence no matter the circumstances. Amen.

By Becky Jones, Pastor

Sabbath and Service Worship Theme

HOOK: As they are able, have people in your congregation stand in silence until they are tired. As they become tired, have them sit down. After a certain amount of time (5-7 minutes), have those who are still standing (if any) to sit. Touch on the idea that we all need rest in addition to the service/work we do.

THEME: Sabbath and Service. This theme centers around balancing work and rest.

SCRIPTURE: Gen 1.-Gen 2.2; Ecclesiastes 3.1-8

EXPERIENCE: [Saint] Benedict was quite precise about it all. Time was to be spent in prayer, in sacred reading, in work and in community participation. In other words, it was to be spent on listening to the Word, on study, on making life better for others and on community building. It was public as well as private; it was private as well as public. It was balanced.

With the invention of the light bulb, balance became a myth. Now human beings could extend the day and deny the night. Now human beings could break the natural rhythm of work and rest and sleep. Now human beings could begin to destroy the framework of life and turn it into one eternal day with, ironically, no time for family, no time for reading, no time for prayer, no time for privacy, no time for silence, no time for time.
Joan Chittister (Wisdom Distilled From The Daily (San Francisco: HarperCollins, 1990) 74-75.

Real leisure, holy leisure, Sabbath leisure, contemplative leisure, has more to do with the quality of life and the depth of our vision than it does with play and vacations. The rabbis taught that the purpose of Sabbath was threefold. The first purpose of Sabbath, the rabbis said, was to free the poor as well as the rich for at least one day a week, and that included the animals, too. Nobody had to take an order from anybody on the Sabbath. The second purpose of Sabbath, the rabbis teach, is to give people time to evaluate their work as God evaluated the work of creation, to see if their work, too, is really life-giving. And finally, the purpose of Sabbath leisure was to give people space, to contemplate the real meaning of life. If anything has brought the modern world to the brink of destruction, it must surely be the loss of Sabbath.
The purpose of holy leisure is to bring this balance of being, not a balance of time, back into lives gone askew, and to give people time to live a thoughtful, a contemplative as well as a productive life.… Holy leisure, in other words, is the foundation of contemplation. And contemplation is the ability to see the world as God sees the world.

The great Benedictine abbot, Dom Cuthbert Butler, wrote once, “It is not the presence of activity that destroys the contemplative life. It is the absence of contemplation.” You are as much required, and I am as much required, to the contemplative life as any cloistered monk or nun. Otherwise, how shall you explain the union of Jesus with God the Creator as He walked from Galilee to Jerusalem, taking animals out of ditches, raising women from the dead, and curing lepers? In Benedictine spirituality, life is not divided into parts, one holy and the other mundane. To the Benedictine mind, all of life is holy. All of life’s actions bear the scrutiny of all of life’s ideals and all of life is to be held in anointed hands. No, personal comfort, purposeless play, vacuous vacations, however rich, however powerful, have not saved the world. Ask the Romans. We need the wisdom of holy leisure now.
—Joan Chittister
Trinity Institute Benedictine Spirituality Conference, 2003

-Let the space be a place for true rest. Do people need to sleep? Have space available for napping. Do people need family time? Have games available. Do people need space and quiet to read a book, magazine or newspaper? Have a “reading room” space available. If we are really not getting time to rest, make this space on this day available for rest and relaxation with God and self/family.

-Another idea is to make this time and space a spiritual retreat time for your congregation and God. Offer space for quiet; space for reading Scripture; space for prayer; space for quiet music; a place for resting, etc…people could rotate through the various spaces or choose one and remain there for the duration of the service. What are the needs of the congregation in terms of rest? This can be asked ahead of time and then those types of spaces could be created.

-third option is to have people try what the rabbis suggest Sabbath is for: 1. True rest; 2. Evaluate their actions over the past week-what was good and where are the growth areas?; 3. Contemplate the real meaning of life. Create space to do these things. It could be that you have three separate stations through which people rotate or do all three things together as a group.

SENDING: Yes, we are sent out into the world to be servants, and yet even God rests. As day is to night, service is to Sabbath. May you find both for there you will too find God.

-By Becky Jones, Pastor