Midweek Service Returns
FROM THE RECTOR
Starting in January, we will bring back our midweek service of Holy Eucharist in the church on Wednesdays, but we are shifting the service from 10:00 a.m. to noon and will now also include prayers for healing for anyone who desires them. The service is open to everyone, and we hope that it will provide a way for people have a restorative encounter with Jesus Christ through a quiet and simple experience of Communion in the middle of the week.
This service is the last of our pre-pandemic worship services to come back after the suspension of in-person worship last year. Over the past few months, some of the people who regularly attended that service before it was suspended have begun to ask when it might resume. A few others who, during the pandemic, have discovered a need or desire for a shorter, simpler service have asked about it as well. I suspect that the spiritual hunger for this service is even more widespread, and I hope that you will join us and invite others in the community to come and take part.
More than an additional service of the Eucharist, this offering is designed to meet several specific needs. First, it takes place on a weekday. There are plenty of people who cannot get to church on Sunday mornings because of work or other obligations. Also, there are some who may worship elsewhere on Sundays but who want to experience our style of worship without leaving their current congregation. Plus, others simply desire Communion with Christ and each other more often than once a week.
Another need this service seeks to address is that of timing. For many people, mornings are difficult. They need extra time and effort to get up and get ready for the day, and I often hear from older parishioners who yearn to come to church but simply cannot get ready in time to be present on Sunday mornings. Hopefully, moving this service to noon will allow those who struggle with mornings to worship with us. Also, by scheduling the service at noon, we hope that those who work downtown or nearby might consider joining us during their lunch hour.
A third reason for bringing back this service is its simplicity and brevity. I do not know anyone who thinks our pews are especially comfortable, but, after about a half an hour, those with arthritis or other chronic pain find them truly unbearable. This service will allow people to come and go without enduring that discomfort. Additionally, some people desire a quiet service without music or a large congregation. There is something holy about being among a faithful few who have gathered, and, although there is nothing like a standing-room-only crowd at Easter, this setting offers intimacy with God and those who have come to worship.
Finally, another part of this service that I hope will meet a wider need in the community is the inclusion of prayers for healing. As our Curate, the Rev. Adelyn Tyler, reminded me, every Eucharist is an opportunity for healing. This service, however, will raise up and highlight that intention by setting aside a moment before Communion for individual intercessory prayer, the laying on of hands, and, when appropriate, anointing with holy oil. I suspect that most of the people who come to the service will seek a more general experience of restoration, but those who seek prayers for a specific need will have the chance to do so. If you are facing an illness, an anxiety, or carrying that sort of burden of behalf someone you love, you will be invited to bring that forward to the altar rail for prayer and, as always, receive the healing power of communion with Christ.
We are still a few weeks away from this new service, and I know that several eagerly await it. If the Wednesday-morning service was important to you in the past, I hope you will come back and join us at noon starting on January 5. If you never had the chance to participate before the pandemic, I hope you will consider trying it out. Whether you seek physical healing or spiritual restoration or both, you are welcome at this service. This will be yet another way our parish seeks to worship our Creator and reconcile the world to each other and to God through Jesus Christ, and I look forward to the special gift that this midweek service will be to our community.
Yours Faithfully,
Evan