04 Jun June 7th: A Return to Campus

After 84 days away from our worship spaces, our church family and friends will be able to gather in person!

Our church council has approved guidelines for re-gathering and those are available for your review; if you plan on attending in person please take a look at them. In short, the church that gathers on June 7th will be different than the one that gathered on March 15th. Things will look different because they are different.

I think this is appropriate also because things aren’t the same in our nation; a lot of things have happened these last several months in regard to the COVID-19 virus and now the death of George Floyd on a Minneapolis street has has rocked our nation. 

I spoke about this horrific moment during my sermon last Sunday (May 31); you can locate some of my thoughts around the 41 minute portion of the worship service. Suffice it to say, the killing of this man by a police officer has generated much protest and rioting. As Melvin Carter, Mayor of Minneapolis said, “The anger is justified, the violence is not.” And, Congressman John Lewis, who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. offered some of these words, “Vote. Organize. Be constructive, not destructive.”

Our church wants to be constructive in this community that we know and love. Clinton knows something about the Governor having to send National Guard troops into town to restore calm and order. In 1956, many out of town agitators stirred violence and hatred related to the de-segregation of the schools. This church and especially its pastor, Rev. Paul Turner, took a leadership role in standing for justice and togetherness at that pivotal time.

So, a lot has happened in our nation these last 84 days and we’ve all been affected in some way. I’m hoping we’ll be able to gather on this Sunday to worship and reflect upon the kind of people God would have us be during these days.

I realize there are those who aren’t quite ready to return to in person worship; we will live-stream the worship services to enable us all to stay connected. It is absolutely fine if you are not comfortable or ready to return to the campus for gathered worship. Regardless of where we are on Sunday, June 7th, I hope that the Lord will speak to us and remind us that we are a people with “a hope and a future.”

See you soon!–DC