“See you Sunday!”
At long last we can say, “See you Sunday!” That’s because we are planning to meet on Sunday, and while all our plans are submitted to God’s will (see James 3:15), this particular plan feels significant!
When the pastors decided to cancel our service on March 15 we had no clue that it’d be this long. And although things this Sunday are still going to be different (and presumably different for a while), we are gathering for worship. We will see pixel-less faces and hear freeze-less voices. We will share in the Lord’s Supper together, remembering his death in our place, and the citizenship he has won for us in heaven. It feels like Christmas morning in June.
The Plan, God willing
As a reminder, the plan is to gather in six different outdoor locations throughout the metro. These gatherings will be a combination of multiple Community Groups, each led by one of our pastors with live worship and preaching. If you are not sure which location to attend, check out the map, or contact our connection guru, Kenny Ortiz (kenny@citieschurch.com). All services will start at 10:00am. For further questions on the outdoor gathering, check out our FAQ page.
Three Things to Remember
As we approach Sunday, I want to exhort you in three areas:
#1. Continue the flexibility
Flexibility, patience, graciousness — this has pretty much been the name of the game since March, and you, Cities Church, have excelled! So I just want to urge you, brothers and sisters, “to do this more and more” (see 1 Thessalonians 4:10).
We’ve never done something this before. Six gatherings at one time. All outdoors. In the shadows of a global pandemic. There’s not a handbook for this sort of thing, and while we’ve made some good plans, ultimately we’re winging it here. So let’s all take a deep breath, lean into the joy of the Lord, and roll with it.
Thank you in advance, and I love you for it.
#2. Greet one another …
Now Paul completes that sentence “… with a holy kiss” (2 Corinthians 13:12) — but that is strongly discouraged this Sunday. The idea of a holy kiss in Paul’s day was simply to “take the physical, familial expression of endearment and use it in a way that is holy to express love for one another.” It’s a handshake, a fist bump, a hug — all of which are also discouraged this Sunday.
But we still must greet one another. We still must express our affection for one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. The last thing we want is for us to gather and ignore one another, or feel tongue-tied by the six-foot distance between us. So go ahead and plan to say hey to one another more loudly than we’re used to. Plan to smile and wave and gesture affection for one another.
#3. Prepare your heart for worship
So it’ll be different kind of gathering, and distractions are likely to abound, but we’re still going to worship God together. And that is wonderfully precious. It’s something I think we’d all admit we have taken for granted in the past.
On the Saturday evening, or perhaps early Sunday morning, consider taking a moment to reflect upon the glory of God in his church. It is through the church that God has determined to make known his manifold wisdom (see Ephesians 3:10–12)! The Book of Common Prayer is a helpful guide in this season after Pentecost:
O Almighty God, who hast built thy Church upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of Spirit by their doctrine, that we may be made an holy temple acceptable unto thee; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
See you Sunday!
