Spirit of Joy! Lutheran Church

Joy-filled. Faith-growing. Life-changing.

dhansen

Our Digital Congregation

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This has been an unusual time in the life of our congregation. For the last seven weeks, we have been gathering 100% online.

On Sunday mornings, we worship together on Facebook live. For Holy Week, we had some special services on Zoom. Every week, two Bible studies gather on zoom to spend time together and dig deeper into Scripture. In addition, each week some of us go back and listen to the sermons on our podcasting app.

I want to share with you a glimpse into what our online congregation has looked like during these seven weeks.

Facebook Live

On Sunday mornings, I broadcast our worship and devotions from my dining room table. At 10:00 am, we pray together, learn from Scripture, and experience time together.

During the live broadcast every week, an average of 58 devices stream the service on either the Spirit of Joy! Facebook page or on my Pastor David Hansen page. On average, there are two people watching each device that streams — meaning that there are just over 100 people worshiping with us during Sunday morning.

In addition, another 40 devices watch the service later – either later on the day on Sunday, or in the week following.

Facebook gives you all sorts of data about who watches your videos.

As you might expect 75% of the people participating in worship were watching in Texas. But the other 25% are from all over.

We had regular worship participants from Florida, Canada, Mexico, Tennessee, Minnesota, Kansas, and much more. In total, we had worship participants in more than 20 US states and 4 countries!

Zoom

We have used the videoconferencing platform Zoom for a couple of different activities. The advantage of Zoom is that it allows all of the participants to see one another and interact in ways that are not possible via Facebook livestream.

Every week, our Men’s Bible Study and Women’s Bible Study have met via Zoom. There have been 15-20 people at these Bible studies each week.

During Holy Week, Zoom was the platform for all of our special services – Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunrise. We had a combined worship attendance of 86 at Maundy Thursday and Good Friday – our largest attendance at those two services on record. All of these services had visitors joining us.

Every Sunday morning before worship, we have continued to do what we also do – have a coffee hour! About ten of us gather every Sunday morning just to catch up and share about life while we wake up and get ready for worship.

Audio Podcast

At the beginning of 2020 – before any of this began – we started consistently recording the audio of Pastor David’s sermons and uploading them to this website and podcasting apps.

As more people began to participate in our worship online, fewer people have downloaded the sermon each week.

During the quarantine, an average of 30 people have downloaded the sermon each week – and these downloads happen all over the world: Panama, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Hungary. Within the US, our sermons are being listened to in Texas, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Washington state and DC, Illinois, Maryland, and more.

Summary

During this time, digital tools have been essential in helping us to remain spiritually connected while we have been physically distanced from one another.

On May 17, we are beginning the process of resuming in-person worship at our church building – but we fully intend on continuing to use these tools and what we have learned during this time to expand our community beyond the walls of our building.

As we resume in-person worship, there will be people who are not ready to participate in that sort of physical gathering, or for health reasons till can not expose themselves to being around others. These people are valued in our community – you are valued whether or not you can make it to in-person worship on Sunday mornings.

What these ways of being connected online will look like in the future remains to be seen. For now, we are planning on continuing to livestream at least a portion of Sunday worship, hosting online Bible studies, and recording and uploading the sermon audio to our podcast app.

The use of these tools may expand in the future – they may grow and transform. Perhaps we will decide to invest in new cameras, or microphones, or other tools that allow us to improve our ability to broadcast our gatherings.

But whatever it looks like, our tools for digital connection are here to stay – they have become a part of who we are.

I’ll see you online!

 

Follow us on Facebook to stay up to date with all the latest developments in our ministry.

If you do not receive our News of Joy! E-newsletter and would like to, you can subscribe to it here and get updates on our ministry sent right to your inbox.

Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down

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Ash Wednesday
Remember you are dust

Ash Wednesday is coming up on February  26. Each year, countless Christians around the world are marked with ashes and told “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” So what’s the deal with ashes?

(See Pastor David’s earlier reflection on Ash Wednesday and our plans for Ash Wednesday worship here)

First, some background. Ashes in the Bible:

  • Ashes are a metaphor for humility. Speaking to God, Abraham says “Let me take it upon myself to speak to the Lord; I who am but dust and ashes.” (Gen 18:27)
  • Ashes are a sign of grief – especially of grief and sadness because of sin. “When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went through the city, wailing with a loud and bitter cry.” (Esther 4:1).
  • On being made aware of sin, this grief and sadness is sometimes called “repentance” – a desire to change one’s life for the better. “When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.” (Jonah 3:6)
  • These ashes are often tied to the “dust” of creation – a reminder that our existence is fleeting and dependent on God. “The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7)
  • “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 4:2:5-6)
  • Ashes are often also connected with prayer and the action of fasting – abstaining from food for the purpose of spiritual clarity. “Then I turned to the Lord God, to seek an answer by prayer and supplication with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.” (Daniel 9:3)
  • Jesus himself – and all of the first Christians – were familiar with these connections: “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.” (Luke 10:13)

In the Jewish tradition, ashes were a signs of repentance, of humility, of grief, and a reminder of our mortality. This was carried over into the early church. Both Tertullian (ca. 200 AD) and Eusebius (ca 300 AD) write about the use of ashes as a sign of asking for forgiveness for sins.

By the year 1000 AD, the season of Lent was becoming a time when all Christians would prepare themselves for Easter by repenting of their sins and asking for forgiveness. As first day, Ash Wednesday set the tone for the whole season. One monk (Ælfric of Eynsham) suggested that people have ashes poured over their heads (think of the mess that must have made!).

On Ash Wednesday we are called to honest reflection on our lives. What are the changes that we need to make? What do we need to repent of? What change do we need in our lives?

And together, as a congregation, we turn to God and ask for forgiveness.

Join us at Spirit of Joy! for Ash Wednesday worship, February 26, at 6:30pm

– Pastor David 

ash heart