Getting the Year Started!

Before moving to Nebraska, I had never heard of Rally Sunday, and it has taken me awhile to understand what it is all about. When I started in Lincoln, I was primarily working with youth. My focus, at the time, was that on Rally Sunday, you started the school year, had a carnival type event, and it was a “Rally” to start things off right. What I have discovered over the past 18 years, is while that understanding isn’t wrong… it also isn’t a complete understanding. Rally Sunday is really the time when the church comes out of what is best called…summer hibernation. You see, during the summer, the church responds to what the schools are doing, we go into a summer recess. All sorts of church groups kind of…go to sleep for a bit. I recall this from the time I was growing up and people would take a summer church vacation. While I, and many others, don’t agree with the rationale behind this, it is a reality that things change in the summertime, such as:

•   Church attendance drops during June, July, and August

•   Traditional Choir takes time off since it can be hard to get a full choir present

•   Many Sunday School Classes recess for the summer

• Committees often skip a July or August meeting

What Rally Sunday celebrates is the end of the hibernation that has occurred during the summer, then waking up and getting back into the groove of things. Coming to church more frequently, offering music more regularly, studying the Word weekly, and returning to our regularly scheduled monthly meetings.

The good news is that the year is starting back up again. Worship attendance will return to the levels we see between September and June. Sunday School Classes for Children, Youth and Adults will resume. The
Adult Choir has already begun practicing, and lots of committees are back to meeting every month.

So come back and join us as we rally the troops and rally our faith this year! Come and see what is happening at First Presbyterian Church. We have had a great summer, and we will have an even greater year this next year! There are so many possibilities before us and this is an incredible time for our church!

In Him,

Pastor Jon