Sign design by Jocelyn Mundy-Bourden
During a morning cycle along the Belleville waterfront we noticed that the nearby Presbyterian congregation was setting up for a worship experience on their lawn under a couple of spreading catalpa trees. They are fortunate to have a large lawn with mature trees and enough room for a dozen community garden plots. I've mentioned that our home congregation, Trenton United, struck a compromise at the end of May as they returned to in-person worship for the third time. They decided to alternate between worship outside one week and inside the next. It has gone really well, including the Sunday in the park when the forecast of a thunderstorm didn't materialize.Attendance has been consistent between both formats.
Necessity does seem to be mother of invention, and a pandemic has redirected convention. So many congregations which had abandoned annual outdoor services and picnics, or cemetery services, have turned to worship "en plein air" with an opportunity to include sky and trees as part of the backdrop.You might recall that last year I blogged about what one pastor called Kayak Church.
Kayak Church Pennsylvania 2020
The sad reality is that some worship traditions, including the Algonquin Park Outdoor Ministry of which I was a part for a couple of years, were forced to stop this year and last because of the abundance of caution about public gatherings, We now have a sense that in both summers congregants would have been safe.
The restrictions have also meant that I didn't proceed with my desire to offer outdoor worship opportunities as a complement to services held indoors. My hope was to do so near water's edge in Belleville and Trenton. So many of us experience an up-welling of praise and gratitude and connection with the Creator when we are outdoors.
Why not deepen that worshipful feeling with an informal and yet structured gathering? If it was good enough for Jesus and the Feeding of the Five Thousand and the Sermon on the Mount...
Who knows what the Fall will bring, but perhaps this will happen yet.-- preferably before February.
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