Happy Good Friday everyone!
What a difference a year makes. I know we are not out of the Covid woods entirely, but we have so much to be happy about this year. For one thing we now have the ability to worship together. Last year our Easter worship was entirely virtual and on Zoom. Looking back now, I'm grateful we had the technology available to still connect together. However, it was far from ideal. Many of us just never did figure out the Zoom tech. And for those of us who did, let's just say it wasn't particularly music friendly - especially those first few times.
We are calling this coming Sunday our Resurrection Sunday - both for an obvious reason and also for a less obvious reason. The obvious reason (and by far the most important) is that this is Easter and it is the day we celebrate the resurrection of Christ!
We also are hoping to "resurrect" our Sunday morning attendance. We understand that many have been keeping their distance from church and everyone else. But now that many of us have had our vaccinations, let's get back to going to church. Two weeks ago Georgiana began attending again. If our oldest member - she's 96 and proud of it! - can attend, then the rest of us probably can too.
Of course for those who choose to stay home and for those many of us who don't actually live anywhere near Mansfield, Ohio, we will continue to stream on both our Church Requel Facebook Page as well as our YouTube channel. (Here is the link - https://youtu.be/k4DTodniNCU)
Special Easter Worship Plans! I'm thrilled to tell you that we have some really special plans for our Easter Sunday morning worship experience. There will be lots of music and lots of special speakers! The format we will be following will be for us to sing a song, or two, followed by one of four special speakers. Each speaker will talk about one of four first encounters with the risen Lord Jesus. Many thanks to Brian Betts, Brandi Walker, Cheryl Buckley, and Don Causley, who will make our Easter Sunday morning such a wonderful worship service.
Here are the songs we will be singing Sunday morning - some for the very first time. This set was chosen by members of our praise team, who chose some very special songs for Easter 2021!
- "Because He Lives (Amen) by Matt Maher
- "Evidence" by Josh Baldwin
- "How Great Thou Art / It is Well / Great Is Thy Faithfulness" by Anthem Lights
- "Gracefully Broken" by Matt Redman
- "How Can It Be?" by Lauren Daigle
- "Forever" by Kari Jobe
- "Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)" by Chris Tomlin
- "Glorious Day" by Kristian Stanfill
I - for one - have been practicing so much that my ukulele finger callouses are thicker than ever! Many thanks to Don, Brian, Chris, Missie, Trish and Brandi for all their preparations for this coming Sunday morning!
At the end of our worship time, we will celebrate together with communion! After this Covid year, it should be a very special time of unity for our church! I'm really looking forward to it. I hope you are too!
Love you all much! Pastor Mark
