WELCOME BACK
Dear Friends in Christ:
Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:23-25)
Sunday, September 13 was a wonderful day as we begin a new Church School year, giving thanks especially for the teachers and the children and young people of the parish. The following morning at the weekly clergy Bible study, one of my colleagues said that he thought calling this day “Welcome Back Sunday” might be giving parishioners the impression that we expect them to go away for the summer. Yes, some of us do go away, not only in the summer, but in other seasons as well. But worship continues here year in and year out and when parishioners are not here, they are missed.
At one of our Sunday morning discernment discussions, someone suggested that we need to do more to encourage parishioners to make regular Sunday worship a spiritual discipline or habit. While letters like this are one way to encourage regular worship, a much more effective way is personal contact.
Many years ago, a parishioner who had been absent for a few weeks chided me for not commenting on that when he returned one Sunday. The implication of my failure to mention it was, for him, that he hadn’t been missed. On the 13th I remembered that incident as I told one parishioner that I had missed seeing him on Sundays over the summer. He was missed and I hope he knows that.
I invite you to join me in thinking about those parishioners whom you and I have missed worshipping with on Sundays, people who always sat near you, people who may have been long-time friends of yours. If there are such people, and I suspect that there are for all of us, I ask you to call them and tell them that you miss seeing them on Sunday mornings. Not only will your call let them know that they are missed, but it may be an opportunity for you to learn about situations in their lives have kept them away and for you to offer them your prayers and your support.
Over the next few weeks I hope that we will let people know that their presence at worship is important to us. We don’t have an official “Welcome Back Sunday” because every Sunday is an opportunity for us to welcome new people to worship and to welcome back those that have been away for a while.
Your elder brother,
Daniel
