Today in the church blog it's time to think about public worship, sabbath rest, and hugging. 

This weekend public health orders relax here in Manitoba. I'm glad about that. I don't like living under a cloud of either risk or conspiracy theory so it's good news when both of those things go down. We've got some way to go before we forget who Dr. Brent Roussin is, but people look forward to not wearing masks as much. People look forward to getting together in groups to go to a movie or concert and visiting family or friends. As a congregation, we look forward to assembling together for worship or social gatherings or even meetings. I hear people using the phrase, “back to normal” with relief and anticipation. But we're not quite there yet and as we look forward to our first in-person public worship service in several months this Sunday I'd like to take a quick look at things we can watch out for as we shift gears and move out of the era of constant public health orders.

First, we've gotten out of shape. An Olympic sprinter can run 200m faster than anybody else because of constant high-level training. If you take a walk around MacGregor each day you might find it easy but that ease comes as a result of doing it regularly. If the sprinter took the year before the Olympics off and lay on the couch watching Netflix and eating Cheetos, not only would they not be able to run very fast, they might injure themselves and not be able to run again if they tried to get back in too quickly! If you quit walking around MacGregor every day for a few months you might find it difficult or uncomfortable when you start up again, even though it's a good activity you enjoy. The same is true in the church and I especially note those who regularly lead in our public worship. I have spent the last year and a half with a very relaxed Sunday morning schedule that mostly involves making coffee and hitting 'play' on my phone so we can listen to the church service recorded earlier in the week. I can't remember the last time I went to an 8:00 AM music practice, led Sunday School discussion, chatted with half a dozen people, led music in worship, and then stayed after the service for a potluck and meeting. I haven't used my public speaking or singing voice in many months. I am so socially out of shape I'm not sure I would make it through that list of Sunday morning activities even if I enjoyed each one. As we start back up again I encourage you to be gracious and patient with Pastor Russell and the others from our congregation who lead in our public worship services especially our worship team leaders – Charlene, Tammy, David, and Bethany and the members of their groups. We are very out of shape socially and have spent more than a year with restful low-stress Sunday mornings. It will take us some time to get back into any level of Sunday morning activity in public.

Second, we may not want to. “Back to normal” is only good if normal was good in the first place and I'm not sure that it always was. I'm not happy about public health orders but there is a silver lining to most things and one of the silver linings in the last year has been a new version of sabbath rest on Sunday. There isn't much of anything to do and so we stick more closely to a biblical model of sabbath through lack of other options - no church, no meetings, no sports, no concerts, no traveling to visit. And now, having learned how nice it is to get up as early or late as we choose and to have a morning with nothing pressing to do, I'm not very excited about getting back to some of the things I did before. I don't want to return to leading several things on Sunday morning and sleeping off a headache in the afternoon week after week. I don't want to go back to a normal that led me to ignore my family and treat the Lord's day as anything but restful plus attend several weekday evening meetings. I don't like the covid era but I feel like a more well-balanced person as a result of it and I hope I can keep some of that moderation going even without the provincial public health department to help me maintain those boundaries. I know others who feel the same way and that may result in changes to our meetings, our worship format, and who is involved in leading our public events including Sunday School and worship services. The changes that make up a new, more faithful normal will take a while to figure out and we will need to work through those changes together. Two weeks ago I wrote here about the importance of people who don't lead and this week I ask those of you who don't lead to be patient and maybe provide some advice to those who do as we figure out ways to become faithful Christ-like people while leading a faithful Christ-like church that does things together as well as we can.

Finally, let's talk about social distance, anxiety and how each of us are different people. I don't like hugging people I'm not related to. I sometimes hug people at church because it feels awkward to turn away from a person who's standing there with their arms out. I see that other people appear to enjoy hugging each other and I'm glad they do and I don't wish they would stop, but it would be OK to not hug me. To tell the truth I could do without handshakes too but I don't feel quite as strong about that. So, I've been pretty happy with the covid era social distance culture. Left to my own devices I would stand around in a circle about 6 feet apart and talk to people without touching just like the public health department recommends anyway. I talked to somebody recently who can hardly bear to not shake hands and hug the people he meets. He's a wonderful warm-hearted person who I think the world of. In our society in the pre-covid era, there wasn't really a socially acceptable way for him to offer a hug and me to refuse it. If somebody's standing there grinning from ear to ear with their hand out to you, it's impolite and sometimes offensive to not shake it. That has to change in our church. We need a way to say, 'no thanks' to a hug, handshake, or other physical touch or closeness without offending each other or taking offence if we offer and somebody else refuses. I'm not sure how we'll do it but it's important. I know people who avoid going to church because they can't bear the anxiety that comes with standing around hugging shaking hands and making small talk before and after the service. That's been the case since long before covid arrived but as some people get rid of their masks as quickly as possible, others will want to keep wearing them. We need ways for those people to support each other. Some will want to get back to hugging each other before the worship service and others will not. I don't want people to stop hugging - I want us to figure out a way to support each other in ways that make sense to whoever is involved. We need ways for people who love hugs and close physical contact to clearly show love and concern for one another in faith while sticking with boundaries that don't make others of us anxious and uncomfortable on either side of the hug divide. This is our opportunity to make those changes as we re-start our rituals of gathering together. We can do the same with masks, handshakes, and other forms of physical distance and closeness especially when we are no longer required by law to do the same thing.

This is an exciting opportunity for us as a congregation and, really, for our whole society. As public health orders relax across the country people can get back to activities they have craved for a long time with new enthusiasm and appreciation. At the same time, we have a perfect opportunity as things begin again to set aside things that were not working well or make changes to our practices from the before times so that we can treat one another more fully as brothers and sisters in faith together.