I looked out my church study window last Wednesday to see this:

“By Gum, that looks like a new stove!” I said to myself. And it surely was. It joined a new refrigerator in our kitchen, and new carpet in our narthex and fellowship hall.

We’re going to have lots of new things to look forward to when we are physically back together again on Sundays. We’re aiming for September 5 to be our return to in-person services, with a slight tweak to service times – they’ll now be 9:30 and 11:30 am, which hopefully will help the attendance between the two balance out somewhat. Past that, there’s just not a lot we can tell you at the moment. We’ll have to wait until August for more information we hope will be coming out, regarding children’s vaccinations, the rate of transmission in our area, and other factors.

There have been some positives to this pandemic year, namely greater inclusion. Our A/V specialists are already on the case to set up a better system in our sanctuary so we can livestream our Sunday services, and we’ll have a form of online fellowship, too.

When you come back to Live Oak (or come for the first time – you members who joined this past year, don’t think we’ve forgotten about you! We’re so looking forward to celebrating you when we return), there will be some great new things, like the new nursery/preK wing, revamped kitchen, and the beginnings of the new giant adult faith development room. But there is a comfort in some of the older things we find dear, like being able to curl up on a sofa in the library with a good book, or bring a picnic lunch to the tables outside.

Most of all, we’ll be able to see each other’s dear faces. What a day of joy that will be.

(Thank you to Ray and Becky McPherson and Tim and Sue Buckley for all their work moving furniture so the carpet could be installed!)