May 4 – “Parking Lot Praisers”

Some 55 courageous souls braved the challenge and made their way to the Seaside Church parking lot yesterday.  What was the occasion for such an admirable show of fortitude?  Sunday Worship!  It was our first Sunday back after our enforced Corona “vacation.” You know … the one where we had online presence only. 

Not to say we didn’t have that online presence.  We set up the phone and went Facebook Live as usual.  We faced some all-new challenges there.  We had to find a spot where the microphone could pick up the sound from the music and from my mike.  That took some doing and adjusting.  Then the phone screen went blank toward the end of the service.  I checked it, and a message appeared saying the phone was too hot, and I needed to cool it down.  While I was looking at it, however, the screen image reappeared … of the ramp and a certain fiddler’s feet.  Chris saw it first and grabbed the phone from my hand and resumed videoing.  That will another challenge for next week. 

I got there in plenty of time to block off the entrance to the parking lot we planned to stage the service from.  One of our Winter Texans was there ahead of me.  We chatted until others began to arrive before actually setting up.  That meant a few tables for the song lyric sheets and offering boxes.  We have prepackaged communion cups on back order, which will also go on the tables.  Seems like everyone in the country had the same desire.  But everyone was encouraged to bring something from home.  I used a Ritz cracker and a juice box.  One lady had V8 juice.  I saw some folks sharing with each other when the praise music began as well.

The reaction of people to, well, to each other, was priceless to behold.  Some hugged.  Others bumped elbows.  Most were smiling from ear to ear.  A few wore masks.  Others had masks at the ready in purses or back in their vehicles.  All wanted to honor the distancing wishes of the individuals the met.  People brought their own lawn chairs and naturally placed them in family groupings.  And there were all kinds of seating possibilities.  We made available some of the church’s metal folding chairs.  There were plenty of those webbed beach chairs.  More than a few had that kind that don’t have any legs to speak of.  Comfortable stuff.  Some brought umbrellas, but the Lord provided us with a cloudy day and natural shade cover for most of the service.

And we had numerous visitors join us for the morning.  A guy came who met a Seasider through a work situation.  Several family members of Seasiders were there.  One older lady walked up using a cane.  Chris and I helped her get settled.  In fact Chris gave her the chair we brought to sit in.  It was more comfortable for a healing broken hip.  She told Chris that she had been driving around the day before and decided that the first evidence she saw of a church having services was where she was determined to go.  Our marquee enticed her enough to make an appearance.  Oh, and during the service we noticed that many of the cars driving by (and there were LOTS of cars driving by.  Hey, first weekend the beaches were opened in Galveston.  It was like Memorial Day) were slowing down when they saw us.  Ordinarily we would assume they were just slowing because of the traffic light, but many of them were slowing almost to a stop, rolling down their windows, and taking pictures of the Parking Lot Praisers.

Jim arranged the praise team on the porch and ramp of the Worship Center, with my stool and mike at one end.  He had the sound tested and working perfectly.  The only issue we had there was with my mike.  I eventually had to keep it very close to my mouth to get it loud enough to be heard by the crowd and the online people.  We are hoping to buy one of those headgear kinds of mikes for me to use going forward.  Of course it’ll probably take weeks to get here. 

The service itself seemed to go off without too many hitches.  We began with a memorial of sorts for one of our Seasiders who died last week.  Her husband is our praise team drummer, and with the Corona restrictions and his family’s travel schedule, it wasn’t going to be possible to have a separate service.  But hey, we are a family.  Sometimes we rejoice and celebrate together, and sometimes we grieve and weep together.  It’s what families do.  It was a somber moment, but Joan is definitely without pain and in the hands of Jesus now.

The teaching was a throwback to the one I did after Hurricane Ike when we were meeting in the parking lot as well.  Different type of crisis, same response … worship.  We studied what it really means when you say “Amen,” especially in the context of something familiar like the Lord’s Prayer.  At one pretty intense and immensely appropriate moment, one of the dogs who was also in attendance barked out an “Amen” in response.  I couldn’t help but acknowledge it and thank the critter for his support.  Hey, Jesus said the rocks and stones would cry out for him.  Why shouldn’t the dogs cry out when we’re praising Jesus?

Psalms 47:6 says, “Sing praises to God, sing praises; sing praises to our King, sing praises.”

Father, thank you for the chance to reconnect in person with some of our Seaside Family.  And please keep watch over those who are staying cautious as well.  I love all those people.  Amen.