Beginning with Memorial Day Weekend on May 26!
While it was still fresh in our minds last fall, the worship planning team surveyed the congregation about our summer worship practices. Based on the feedback we received, plans have been made for the coming summer and we’re incorporating some new elements to our practices.
One Worship Service, starting at 9:30am
The whole community will gather in the sanctuary for one service on Sunday mornings from 9:30-10:30am. This weekly service will also be live-streamed. Expect post-worship hospitality and occasional programming.
Regular Outdoor Worship in a New Location
Four Sundays have been selected for our worship service to take place outdoors, maximizing the enjoyment of our beautiful setting. Community feedback has prioritized shade and accessibility. As such we’ll be experimenting with a new location in the southeast corner of the parking lot. We also hope to be offering a live-stream from outside as well. Here are the Sundays when our worship will take place outdoors (weather permitting):
- May 26 (Memorial Day Weekend)
- July 7
- August 4
- September 1 (Labor Day Weekend)
3 Thought-Provoking Worship Series in Store
Find Your Center – May 26 to June 16
As we begin our summer together, you’re invited on a journey of self-discovery and spiritual renewal as you find your center. It’s outside – where we are beckoned, amidst the awe-inspiring beauty of nature, reconnecting with the earth and the divine presence infused within it. With art & music, explore the ways in which creativity becomes a conduit for encountering the sacred, whether through the strokes of a brush, the melody of a song, or the rhythm of a dance. We’ll delve into the power of story, both personal and communal, to illuminate the pathways to our sacred centers, weaving together the threads of our lives with the timeless narratives of faith. Finally, the community reveals the vital role of shared experience and mutual support that grounds us in our identities and fosters deeper connections with the divine and one another.
Created to Be – June 23 to July 21
This series is designed to be offered in concert with the high school youth of our congregation, preparing to attend the National Youth Gathering this summer in New Orleans. “Created to Be” is the theme of the 2024 NYG and our worship in June and July will explore the same pattern youth from all over the country will experience together.
We have been created to be ourselves. Created by the Holy One. Since the last time the ELCA came together for an ELCA Youth Gathering, our young people have experienced several major life events. Still today, we are experiencing an ongoing public health crisis mixed with an economic and political crisis. However, we can rest assured that we are created to be in relationship with one another.
We are created to be brave, to show up with an open mind and heart, willing to be challenged.
We are created to be authentic, to bring our whole selves and know that we are loved by our Creator.
We are created to be free, to be transformed by the gospel.
We are created to be disruptive, to work for justice for all our siblings.
We are created to be disciples, to be sent out into the world to love our neighbor just as we are loved by God.
Complete Joy – July 28 to Sept. 1
In his first letter to the early Christians making a community together, the Apostle John wrote of the strong connection between faith and life. It is important to get our views of Jesus correct, yet equally these doctrines are not purely abstract but powerfully connected to our way of life. 2000 years later, this community of faith can be reminded that love and fellowship remain as keys to Christian discipleship. 1 John is more testimony than letter, arguing for an important truth and witnessed by those who have seen and heard Jesus, “so that our joy may be complete.” In this spirit, over six weeks, we’ll explore this ancient book together.