Sunday Worship 10:00 am - In Person and on Facebook Live
What Does Worship Look Like in 2021?
Harris County is now back in Threat Level Three (Moderate Threat - Yellow) for the Covid 19 pandemic. At this level, residents are instructed to "stay vigilant unless fully vaccinated". Our contact tracing sheets show that most worshipers are fully vaccinated; accordingly, Woodforest Presbyterian Church is resuming many of our pre-pandemic activities. However, a new variant is circulating, so just as a precaution we are still wearing masks inside the church building. We also continue to practice hand washing and social distancing in order to protect each other.
We are now celebrating the season of Advent. Advent means "coming", and these days mark the start of the Christian year. This is the time when we prepare our hearts to welcome Jesus. Yes, we look back in joy to his birth. But we need to remember that Christmas was just the beginning of the story that leads through Easter and on to the future coming of God's Kingdom.
One of the ways we celebrate Advent is by studying and reading Advent scriptures each day leading up to Christmas. We pray and sing Christmas songs celebrating Christ's birth. We "green" our church building by cleaning, scrubbing, and putting up our Chrisom tree. We dedicate poinsettias in honor of our loved ones. And we remember that, as always, Jesus calls us to feed the hungry and care for the homeless.
During this Threat Level, Woodforest Presbyterian Church is hosting LIVE WORSHIP SERVICES in a hybrid format. If fully-vaccinated, you may join us for masked and socially-distanced worship in personevery Sunday at 10:00 am. In addition, we continue to broadcast our worship services live on Facebook, also at 10:00am every Sunday. Our worship blends liturgical expressions of faith with both traditional and contemporary music. We love our church family and invite everyone to join us - whether in person or online!
Worship bulletins are emailed each Friday. These documents include all the hymns and prayers and make it easy to participate in the Sunday broadcast services. If you would like to receive these bulletins, please request them by emailing info@woodforestpc.org. See previously-recorded services:
COMMUNION is celebrated on the first Sunday of every month as well as on Maundy Thursday, Easter Sunday, during our Church Celebration, and on Christmas Eve.
By eating bread and drinking wine in memory of Jesus' Last Supper, we receive again the blessing of his sacrifice. We remember God's loving promise, and we commit our faith anew. All baptized Christians are welcome to join in the Lord's Supper, regardless of church affiliation.
When worshiping from home, we ask participants to have their own bread/crackers and wine/juice handy when the broadcast service begins at 10:00 am on Facebook Live. We bless the elements together during the service and then partake together, signifying our unity in Christ.
If you do enter the church in person, you will see lots of changes! Stickers on the floor remind us to distance ourselves from others. A table near the entry contains masks, face shields, hand sanitizer, gloves, and a thermometer. Prepackaged communion kits are available to take home. A dropbox allows for touchless donations, instead of passing a collection plate from hand-to-hand. Most importantly, a sign-in list makes contact tracing possible if it is needed.
In the sanctuary, you will notice lots of additional A/V equipment, particularly cameras and microphones. Slides are still projected on the wall, as we have always done during our in-person services.
Our music is live, and licensed through CCLI for both broadcast and in-person worship. Photography is graciously provided by Trevor Feltner. Here you see Ryan, our music director, on his digital piano. He has now been joined by Jeff Hoofard on percussion. The congregation provides the beautiful voices (masked and socially-distanced, of course)!
Working behind the scenes, the tech team runs the in-person slide projector and Facebook Live broadcast.
What Comes Next?
We consider broadcast services as a permanent addition to our worship practice. However, as the pandemic eases we are gradually resuming in-person worship as well. If the weather cooperates, meeting out-of-doors like this may be part of our worship experience! Watch for notices in your weekly Friday email (to subscribe, drop us a note at info@woodforestpc.org)
Join us Sunday at 10:00 am In Person or on Facebook Live!