Prime Worship is the online worship experience of the City Road Chapel United Methodist Church, located in Madison, TN. This service is for August 9, 2020, and focuses 1 Peter 4:12-19.
Question for Reflection:
How have you experienced persecution for your identity as a follower of Jesus?
Prime Worship is the online worship experience produced weekly by the City Road Chapel United Methodist Church, located in Madison, TN. This week’s service focuses on 1 Peter 4:1-11.
Reflection Questions:
For the past 5 months, we have been delaying the celebration of Holy Communion until we could meet together in person. However, since it looks like it may still be many weeks until we can worship in-person together, we want to make a provision for folks to receive the sacrament.
This Sunday, August 2, 2020, from 9:30 a.m. until noon, Pastor Jay Voorhees will be outside the main entrance off the parking lot to serve Communion to any who are interested in their cars. You are asked to remain in your car and Pastor Jay will bring the body and blood of Christ for any who are in your car to partake of.
This, of course, is not the same as coming together to share in the holy meal with our brothers and sisters. However, while we can’t be in the same room, we can be together in Spirit as we remember “There is one body and one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.” [Ephesians 4:4-6]
For questions about drive-through communion, please email Pastor Jay at pastor@cityroadchapel.org.
Prime Worship is the online worship experience produced weekly by the City Road Chapel United Methodist Church, located in Madison, TN. This week’s service focuses on 1 Peter 3:17-22.
Reflection Questions:
As most of you know now, we had a bit of a COVID scare last week when a couple of folks associated with the program tested positive for the disease. We immediately went into response mode, closing down the Child Development Center, and making provisions for deep cleaning of the facility. Of course, the greatest fear was that the disease had been spread to our students and their families as well as our staff.
Because I had been in contact with some of those folks I found myself sitting in a long line of cars last week at Nissan Stadium to undergo my first round of testing. Given what I had read and heard from others I was a little anxious about the swab up the nose but after my 90-minute wait, I pulled into a tent, and honestly, it wasn’t too bad. Then the hard part started — waiting to find out the results — a time of anxiety for the next 5 days. So, when my phone buzzed at 3:30 a.m. on Monday morning I picked it up and breathed a sigh of relief that the result was negative.
I wasn’t the only one with that experience but in the end ALL of our staff and children that had been possibly exposed tested negative. We definitely dodged a bullet, and we were able to reopen our center this past Monday.
Last week’s experience has led me to several insights:
Jesus said that unless we become like a child we will not be able to enter God’s Kingdom. I am grateful for the example of these children who have been left in our care, and I hope I can emulate them in their simple love and care for their friends.
Thanks again CDC staff! You rock!
Ruth Woodall, a member of City Road Chapel UMC, was recently honored by the American Chemical Society (ACS) and has received the 2021 Charles Lathrop Parsons Award by the ACS Board of Directors. The award recognizes outstanding public service by a member of the society. We all know Ruth has given of herself greatly over the years to both our church and our community, and we celebrate this important honor with her.
Click here to read the announcement regarding the award.
Congratulations Ruth!
This week we are looking at 1 Peter 3:1-9.
Questions for Reflection:
On Tuesday, July 7, 2020, we learned that someone at the City Road Chapel Child Development Center has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus. We immediately responded according to state and federal protocols, shutting down the center, informing families, and making contact with state and federal officials. We are responding in the following ways:
We are confident in the safeguards we have put in place to limit the spread of infection, but while we can reduce risk, there is no way of completely alleviating it. We ask your prayers for our staff and children affected by this recent development. We are working diligently to ensure that we will be able to safely reopen as quickly as possible.
–Jay Voorhees, Pastor
-Diane Iovino, Director of Childcare Ministries.
Prime Worship is the online service of prayer and praise produced by the City Road Chapel United Methodist Church, located in Madison, TN. Today, Bishop William McAlilly of the Nashville Episcopal Area of the United Methodist Church will be sharing from Jeremiah 17 and calling us all to go deeper.
Dear friends,
I think that most of you know that we had been planning on resuming in-person worship at City Road Chapel UMC on Sunday, July 12, 2020. We have been making plans to ensure the safety of all and were excited that we would soon be getting together soon.
However, today Mayor John Cooper announced that due to the exponential rise in COVID cases in Nashville, our city would be returning to Phase 2 status, with greater restrictions to resume. Since our Church Council agreed in the early weeks of the crisis to not resume in-person gatherings until Nashville was at Phase 3, we will NOT be resuming worship on July 12.
These decisions are never easy. There is always a balancing act regarding the risks involved in coming back together and the need to be connected. Yet, as the pastor of this congregation, I know that most of our folks are considered high-risk patients, and so we are taking the utmost care in resuming our gatherings to ensure that we are not a vector for the spread of this disease.
I know that some are looking at other area churches that are open and wondering how they do it. Honestly, several of those congregations (Long Hollow Baptist is the most prominent) have had to close down after reopening due to outbreaks in their congregations. There are no magic bullets in regard to this disease. The only sure way to avoid having people get sick is to stay at home, wear masks, and practice social distancing when you have to be out. Churches, because of the nature of the gatherings, have been shown again and again to be places where this disease spreads easily. As such, we have to take extra care to ensure that we keep folks safe.
I know that I’m disappointed that we have had to postpone again in-person gatherings, and I imagine that many of you are sad as well. This just means that we all have to reach out to one another in the ways that we can — phone calls, cards, and online. The church is not closed — we just are not able to physically meet. But God’s work of love and light continues on, and I hope you can discern how God is wanting to use you in this moment.
When will we be able to get together again? Mayor Cooper said that it’s likely we will be in Phase 2 for a couple of weeks. Given the increasing case numbers and the incubation time for the disease, I would not be surprised if we aren’t looking at August before reopening. But, we will take this a week at a time, and will reopen when we can assure the safety of all.
I love you all and miss being with you. But I know that we are joined together in the light of God’s love no matter where we are.
May God be with us all in a special way!
–Pastor Jay
