We’re at home temporarily in the middle of our vacation.  I’ll be joining some friends down at Circle of Hope this evening for worship, so I just stayed home this morning – which gave me an excellent view of what our outdoor worship looks like to our neighbors.

Now, I usually hear from our neighbors each spring about when our outdoor worship is starting – they seem to like it – but I’ve never been privy to what they actually experience from their porches accross the street when we head outside.  Now I seen a bit (shortened because folks forgot to check the radar this morning and therefor missed the rather large thunderstorms heading our way [note: actually, I’m informed that they did check it]), and I like it.

The first to show up are the set up team, which I’m usually part of.  This folks do an excellent job of turning our back lawn into a sanctuary, you can see the process here.  This crew does a great job, and the speed and friendships they demonstrate as the worship area is set up says something very positive about our community.  I love watching people walk or ride by as the set-up is going on.

Then the band usually practices.  I’ve often wondered if perhaps we’re too loud in the mornings, but it honestly isn’t bad at all.  The way that the Church building and my house are set up much of the sound doesn’t make out to the nearest streets.  The open side of our ourdoor sanctuary is far enough away (and the speakers are pointed in such a way) as the sound coming that way isn’t over-powering.  This confirms what my neighbors have told me in the past, but it’s nice to have some first hand experience of it now.

Shortly after 10, people start trickling in.  All I can say is that the majority of folks who come seem to be genuinely interested in each other – people even seem to be starting to warm up to the idea of including visitors in conversation before and after worship.  This is a relavely new trend, and not yet as wide-spread as I’d like, but it’s a welcome one.

The order of worship, was also nice to see from afar.  I could hear people singing, and their pray time responses were also audible.  The culture of this church does have some problems displaying emotion during worship (except, occasionally, anger) – but from afar you can at least appreciate that people are not experiencing worship as lumps on a log.

It was weird not being in worship this morning, but it was nice to be home with my son (who is getting over a bug) – it’ll be nicer to head to Circle this afternoon, which I’ve been meaning to get to for over a year.