Working Together to Worship Together: Why We're Going Back to One Sunday Service

Starting November 21st, we are returning to a single Sunday worship service at 10am. This is a big moment in the life of our church, and we want to briefly share some of the reasoning behind the decision and some of the changes we’ll put in place to make it happen.

First, some background.

We began holding two services last year in response to social distancing mandates from the county; we wanted to make sure that as many people as possible were able to attend in-person services. When those mandates were lifted, we continued to hold two services so that neither service would feel too crowded and there would be room for growth.

But over the last several months, nearly all of our growth has been at the 9am service.

There are a variety of reasons for this. Chief among them is that our children's ministry has been limited to the 9am service due to volunteer capacity, so our families have generally preferred the earlier service. Others who wish to see those families on a Sunday morning have joined them in the first service, and it has become our "main" service by default.

This means that someone would have a radically different experience of our church depending on which service they chose. This is neither sustainable nor healthy for the life of our body.

So we’re going back to one service. Although we can't promise that we will never again have two services — God will determine our growth! — for right now, we believe it is important for the health of our church that we work together to worship together.

What will this look like? Here are some additions we're planning to make this change possible:

• More seating in the "gathering space" (the front room where we have our coffee maker).
  

• A video screen and speaker in that room to make it easier to see and hear what's going on in the main room.
  

• More air purifiers to make sure that we are getting adequate circulation and filtration with more people sharing the space.

We hope to have this all ready to go by our first Sunday with one service, but there will inevitably be some kinks in the system - please bear with us as we figure this out together!

We are excited to once again gather as one united body, and for the additional fellowship opportunities this will open up before and after our services. Please pray for us through this transition, and if you have questions or concerns please don't hesitate to reach out to Fr. Jeromie or Christine.

On The Renewed Mask Mandate in Larimer County

The following post is adapted from a letter sent to the Christ Our Hope congregation by Fr. Jeromie Rand on October 21st, 2021.

Dear Christ Our Hope,

By now, I am sure that most of you have heard that Larimer County has issued another mask mandate. Beginning at 12pm yesterday, all public indoor spaces (including churches) must either require face coverings or check the vaccine status of everyone who wishes to enter the building. We will never use vaccine status as a requirement for participation in worship at Christ Our Hope, so compliance with the law requires that we go back to wearing masks in the service.

From the beginning of my time as rector at Christ Our Hope, I have said that we would comply with all public health orders as long as they do not present a fundamental obstruction to our ability to worship God. There is a point where I would be willing to engage in civil disobedience for the sake of the Kingdom, but I do not think this latest mandate crosses that line. We have worshiped with masks in the past; we can do so again. As we return to wearing masks, I ask you to do so in “the meekness of wisdom,” (James 3:13) setting aside your personal stance on mask wearing for the sake of unity in the church and witness to a watching world.

But I want to acknowledge that doing so comes with a cost. For some in our community, wearing a mask represents a significant loss. Perhaps a mask feels like an encroachment upon your autonomy or makes freedom in worship more difficult. Masks can make communication with others a challenge. They can contribute to a feeling of being unclean, as if we are seen as a potential vector for disease rather than a brother or sister in Christ. These difficulties can come without any conviction that wearing masks is truly helping to keep others safer. If this latest mask mandate arrives as a trial that you must endure, I encourage you to allow it to produce steadfastness of faith, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)

For others, wearing a mask is no big deal. Some of you have been doing so voluntarily for the last few weeks, and you may feel a sense of relief that the community is engaging in protective measures against the spread of COVID. The challenge for you is not to boast in this decision, celebrating a victory that causes pain for others. That way is the wisdom of the world, not that of God. (James 3:13-18)

As we acknowledge the difficulties of this time, it is important that we direct the cries of our heart to God. Whether you are feeling sorrow, anger, anxiety, exhaustion, or relief as a response to this latest health order, I encourage you to bring your entire self to God. As individuals and as a community, we need to learn that God wants us to be entirely honest with him. Our Psalm for this coming Sunday, Psalm 13, is a particularly appropriate place to start. It begins: “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” As we gather in worship on Sunday, the psalm will be one place where we can give voice to our loss together.

As we express the depth and diversity of our feelings and still choose unity and joy in worship, I trust that God will work in us for our good. He can and will use this mask order, and our response, for the sake of his kingdom. To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!

Grace and peace,
Fr. Jeromie+

P.S. On a practical note, wearing masks will look a little different this time around. The latest mask order does make provision for those leading the service, so I will not wear a mask while preaching or celebrating at the table. Neither will I ask readers to wear a mask at the lectern, and Nathan and other musicians will not be required to wear a mask while leading us in musical worship. All of us will wear a mask when sitting with the congregation, and I will wear a mask while distributing Communion or walking among the congregation with the gospel reading. I hope that the lack of masks on those serving from the front helps us to retain some sense of normalcy and personal connection as we navigate this together. And if you have specific questions or difficulties with our response to this latest mandate, please do not hesitate to reach out to me.

The End is in Sight - "Don't Give Up the Ship"

Dear Friends, as we come into the "home stretch" of this Lenten season, I want to remind us of where we started this year.  Those who attended our Ash Wednesday Eucharist this year heard me tell the story of Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry and his battle flag.

On September 10, 1813 under the command of Commodore Perry, the fledgling United States Navy won a great victory repelling the attack of a small British flotilla in the Battle of Lake Erie.  It was a major turning point in the War of 1812 paving the way for other decisive land victories.  It was hard fought, the Americans lost many sailors and at least one of their ships was crippled in the action.  But through it all, Commodore Perry inspired his men to victory, having hoisted his personal battle flag:  A simple blue banner with the embroidered words, “Don’t Give Up The Ship.”  Even today these words remain as an informal motto of the Navy.  Don’t give up the ship.

But this great symbol of victory had in fact been forged out of a great tragedy.  "Don't Give Up the Ship" was the dying command of Perry's good friend, Captain James Lawrence.  In June of that same year Lawrence died in a battle of his own.  

Just out of Boston Harbor, Lawrence’s ship the Chesapeake was defeated and captured by the British frigate Shannon.  It was Captain Lawrence’ last order after being mortally wounded and carried below deck, “Don’t Give Up the Ship.”  Tragically, about 5 minutes later, they did give up the ship.  Three days later Lawrence died of his wounds.

But here is the most stunning and perhaps the most tragic thing, that particular battle never should have happened.  Lawrence was new in command. The Chesapeake was a brand new ship.  His crew was newly formed.  He had no business taking on a seasoned veteran with a seasoned crew in a war hardened ship like the Shannon.

In fact, the Department of the Navy knew this.  Captain Lawrence had been given express orders not to engage but to slip out of port under cover of night and sail for the Mediterranean.  But he ignored those orders, his pride led him into battle - and he lost his ship and his life.

At this point in our Lenten journey I think this story is an even more poignant reminder than it may have been when I first told it 4 weeks ago.  Because by now in our Lenten journey our own pride has probably revealed itself and possibly led us into some lost battles.  Either rearing its head at inopportune moments and causing us to speak words we wish we had not spoken.  Or perhaps led us to a moment of laxity where we were lulled into thinking, "at least I don't have to worry about struggling with X anymore."  Only to find ourselves falling to sin X, Y, and Z within that very week or even that very day.  Is any of this ringing true with anyone else?  Or perhaps your Pride has caused you to struggle and chafe at what my friend Fr. Kevin Miller calls, "The Spiritual Disciplines You Didn't Choose." - Those trials that the Lord has brought into your life this Lent because he loves you and he knows what will refine you even more effectively than the disciplines we may have set out intending for ourselves to follow. 

Pride rears it's head in many ways, shapes and forms.  And many a spiritual battle has been lost because, like Captain Lawrence, our pride has led us there - right to the very place we have no business being.  Led us right into a conflict we are not equipped to win even if we thought we were.  But here is the point where the glorious good news of the gospel enters in.  My wife often reminds me of the words that one author from the recovery movement has said, "we never run out of tries."  

Just as Lawrence's failure led to a mollifying rallying cry which led to an even greater victory, so too our failures and the shame that follows them leads us back to that place of utter reliance upon God's Grace.  The place where greater victories can be experienced.  Where we, by the Power of the Resurrection manifest by the Holy Spirit of God, are picked back up off of the bloodied and muddied ground of battle, our wounds are dressed and we are sent back out to keep up the fight.  A fight which we are ultimately assured that we will win.  Not necessarily because we go out as better spiritual warriors (although hopefully our failures do lead us to a place of greater wisdom).  But because we return to the front, humbler and more reliant on the spiritual weapons we have been given and ultimately reliant upon the One who has already won the War for us.  

So, as we approach Holy Week and prepare to celebrate the victory of our Champion and the winning of the War, be encouraged in your own skirmishes with the World, the Flesh and the Devil.  Don't Give Up the Ship.  Even (or perhaps especially) if you have experienced defeat, return to the front and Don't Give Up the Ship

Gesima what time it is.

This Sunday is Septuagesima Sunday!  In the Great Tradition of the Western Church, the three Sundays which precede Ash Wednesday have been anciently known as Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima Sunday respectively.  The names come from the fact that these Sundays fall at roughly 70, 60 and 50 days before the celebration of Easter (thus the funky names which are simply Latin for 70, 60 and 50 days).  These three Sundays have traditionally served as the gateway and vestibule to the season of Lent.  In the medieval Church they almost took on a flavor of "Lent lite" as some of the restrictions of the Lenten fast were slowly imposed (such as the omission of the Alleluias and the Gloria in the liturgy).  It also served a similar purpose to practices still observed in the Eastern Church where believers gradually begin eliminating meat and dairy from the diet over the weeks which precede the Fast proper to prevent the faithful from experiencing the shock of "going cold turkey."

For our purposes as contemporary Anglicans, I would urge us to consider taking this nudge from the Church calendar and begin now to think, pray and prepare for the Lenten season which is just ahead of us.  If you are at all like me, it is likely you have experienced those years wherein you feel as though you missed out on the first 5 days or so of Lent because it takes  that long to decide what you need to be doing.  This is why, in Her Wisdom, Mother Church gives us this "heads up" to do that discerning and preparing now.

Take the time now to ask the Lord what He would have your fast look like this year.  In addition to dietary fasts, are there other areas of your life: media, entertainment or "creature comforts" that He would have you lay aside for this season?  Are there particular disciplines He would have you take up?  Here at Christ our Hope we will have materials available in the next 3 weeks to help you in this endeavor.