Epiphany Blessings, Church!
What a wonderful Advent and Christmas Season we’ve had at LCC! We are looking forward to celebrating Epiphany this coming Sunday, January 7th, and the Baptism of Christ the following Sunday on January 14th. After that, we’ll just have a short month before Lent begins with Ash Wednesday on February 14th.
On Epiphany Sunday, we’re continuing a newer tradition at LCC of choosing Star Words for the coming year.* In addition to our individual Star Words, I’ve also been offering a Star Words for LCC as a whole congregation each year.** The word I’ve chosen for 2024 might feel random, but I just can’t shake it. It’s a word from the Holy Spirit; she dropped it into a budget document for our social hall renovation, and it immediately stood out to me as our Star Word: ACCESSIBILITY.
In relation to our building project, accessibility has a particular meaning. We’re hoping to update the West Clifton entrance to include an ADA ramp for wheelchairs, strollers, and individuals for whom a step is a challenge. We’re also planning to equip our Social Hall stage with a wheelchair lift: a commitment to the promise that all are welcome to participate in youth musicals, pageants, talent shows, and other performances at LCC.
Accessibility has many more layers, though. We are seeing growth in our online worship attendance, and I want to be more intentional about engaging our expansive congregation and welcome them in our community. Our online worshippers consist of:
· Members of LCC with physical limitations, time constraints, or travel plans.
· Geographically dispersed parents, grandparents, and siblings of members.
· Individuals with “church trauma.” In other words, people for whom a physical church building causes severe anxiety due to harmful experiences with churches in the past.
· A whole congregation from the UCC in the Philippines has been with us online lately!
· People who just want to see what it’s like first, before they sit in the pews.
I want these members of our community to have access to the deep sense of community LCC strives for, and to know they are beloved to us. Making online worship accessible is more than providing a video of worship. How can we be more accessible to our expansive congregation?
On another level, the word accessibility has to do with opening our hearts to spiritual growth and connection. How are we allowing the Holy Spirit to access our lives? Are we putting obstacles in the way of our relationship with God? I will be expanding on this in my sermon on January 7th, and I hope it will resonate with the congregation.
And now onto another word: Busy. Busy-ness is NOT a star I like to follow, but I must be honest that things are quite busy at LCC. Over the past couple weeks, the Music Team has been conducting interview for our Director of Music Ministries and/or Organist positions. We have met some really wonderful candidates, so we are not currently receiving new applications, and we hope to reach a decision in the coming weeks.
We are also preparing for the annual meeting on February 4th, which requires a lot of work on behalf of the staff and church leadership: budget preparations, committee reports, reflections, and planning. This year, we’re considering how to make the meeting accessible to those who cannot be with us in-person. (See what I did there?)
We’re also busy preparing to begin the Social Hall and Kitchen Capital Campaign and Renovation. Your patience is so greatly appreciated as we organize our team. There is a lot happening behind the scenes, and now you will begin to hear updates much more regularly about our timeline, goals, fundraising process, construction process, final designs, and more. The date for a Commissioning Sunday (late January or early February) will be announced shortly, and on that Sunday, we will bless and celebrate our Capital Campaign Team leaders. We will also provide a full update and opportunity for questions at the Annual Meeting.
It is a great joy to be in this New Year with Lakewood Congregational Church. Thank you for all the wonderful gifts you have given in 2023 and brought into 2024 in the form of time, talent, and treasure, and most of all thank you for being the beautiful people God made you to be.
With grace, love and Epiphany blessings in this new year,
With gratitude,
Pastor Joanna
*Star words are just a single word, written on a star, to follow like the Magi did. They symbolize a guiding light for our spiritual journey in 2024. Some people choose their star word at random; others prefer to choose one very intentionally. In worship, we will have both options: stars with words on them already and some blank ones if you’d like to write your own. If you’re struggling to think of one for yourself, ask a friend to help you discern, or reach out to me and I’ll see if I can help.