I love ringing handbells! When the pandemic shut everything down in 2020 and group ringing wasn’t feasible, I took the opportunity to try something new — solo ringing. My first 2 solos involved playing bells on the table. The next thing I tried was a ‘bell tree’ – where the bells are strung together and hit with mallets. David Johnson used his engineering talents to construct a “tree” to hang the bells from.
“Welcome to Prince of Peace, just roll down your window!” Throughout the year we continued to experiment with new ways of connecting through worship and building community together. Drive-thru ashes and communion in Lent progressed to parking lot worship on Easter, Pentecost, and then thru October. A tent and custom-printed umbrellas offered relief from the occasional drizzle and the direct sunshine for those who preferred their camp chairs and car seats as pews, and where all found a place at the table.
Early 2021 was lonely for our family. We felt isolated as we lived through the first pandemic winter. The holidays were spent outside or on Zoom, work and homeschool were indoors, and contact with our former church community was either without interaction on YouTube or uncomfortable, in-person meetings. For a variety of reasons, and under some of the hardest circumstances, we found ourselves searching for a new church. And we found Prince of Peace.
It has once again been a challenging year for the Befriender Ministry. For two years the fourteen Befrienders have not been able to come together for an in-service gathering and Befriending in person has been difficult. Instead we have written notes, made phone calls, delivered meals and prayer shawls delivered, and visited outdoors.
When Pastor Bob Bragstad visited a young couple in their new home in Roseville, to invite them to a new church plant at the local high school, I doubt anyone knew that it would become a relationship that would grow and sustain a faith for a lifetime. The relationships that grew out of their participation at Prince of Peace were the best of what a church community has to offer. My parents lived out their faith in service at church and in the community, inviting people to Prince of Peace and then being sure they walked with the new folks at church.
This year we discovered that the outdoors is a great place to reconnect and renew! From bonfires to hiking, worship to VBS, service projects and casual conversation, we experienced God’s creation and connected with one another in Covid-friendly ways. I loved hearing things like, “Hey we should do this again next year; we don’t need a pandemic to go hiking together.”