Dear Restoration Family,
Autumn is officially here, and we are quickly finalizing plans for indoor Sunday Worship. This upcoming Sunday, Oct 4th, will be our final service outdoors for the season.
Going Indoors
As mentioned in a previous newsletter, we are unable to rent the Nokomis Community Center for the time being. Who knew that in three short years our hearts would grow to love such a quirky gym? The good news is that we have found a familiar, indoor location for the next season of Restoration’s worship services. Many of you will remember fondly our “Christmas at the Parkway” events, where we rented the recently restored Parkway Theater and played Christmas movies for hundreds of neighbors. Well, the Parkway is graciously allowing us to rent Sunday mornings. Our first Sunday at the Parkway will be October 11th.
Seeking the Lord
Keep in mind that the Parkway is not our long-term home. Although warmer than our current location, it poses some new challenges for us to creatively address. We will only continue to rent from the Parkway until a more suitable venue becomes available or the weather is again favorable for Outdoor Worship. The Park District will notify us when the Community Centers open up again, and at that moment, we will reassess our options.
Space matters, place matters, and as we've done in all of our previous worship locations, we will walk into the Parkway asking, What does the Lord want to teach us here? He is the steady Pillar of Fire, leading every step. The Community Center has shaped our culture profoundly. So has the season of Home Liturgy and worshipping outside at Nokomis Park. What does God have in mind for us now at the corner of 48th and Chicago?
Extending the Table: Two Services
One of our deep values at Restoration is Hospitality, and we have continued to add new people to our church family over the past few months. It is always important that there is enough room for everyone around the Table. Therefore, in order to ensure that there is room for all who want to come, we will be offering two services. Service times will be 9:00 and 10:45.
Covid Precautions
We take seriously the public health situation and care about your physical safety. Just like with our Outdoor Worship, we are developing policies that will adhere to MDH regulations. Also, we are required to do this in order to rent from the Parkway. Masks, social distancing, air circulation, omni-directional people flow, and liturgical accommodations will be a part of our Sunday morning time together. Stay tuned for our detailed policies.
However, we understand that no matter what precautions we take, there will be some members who are unable to join us in person. Therefore, we will be offering a Livestream of the service and will continue to encourage sacramental participation by requesting a time to partake in Reserved Sacrament.
Ongoing Church Life
Among Restoration attenders, we have a very broad spectrum of comfort levels when it comes to in-person events. Therefore, we will continue to offer various, creative church life events in the hope that everyone who calls Restoration home will have opportunities to be fed in Fellowship, Word, and Table.
Get Involved
As we prepare for this transition, please consider signing up to serve either as Greeters, Musicians, Early Setup before the first service, or Late Teardown after the second service. This is going to be an all hands on deck moment. You can volunteer by simply visiting this page, and letting me know what you’d like to do. Thankfully, the Parkway is allowing us to store all of our equipment on site and some of it even in the theater itself. So setup/teardown will be far more easier than previous locations.
While these are not changes we anticipated for 2020, I am confident that the Lord has things to teach us that we will carry with us for many more years to come. He is the faithful King, leading us forward in this revival of Word and Sacrament!
In Christ,
Fr. Rick
