Amen. You can grab a seat. How good does that feel to sing some songs to God together again as the people of God?

And for those of you who this is your first time at Auburn Community Church, I want to say a huge welcome to you.

You picked a great Sunday to make it your

first time here because for all of us, this kind of feels like a first. And as we're lifting up

those songs of praise to God, I'm just thinking about every individual that's in this room right now

and how for all of you, I have no idea what 2020 has meant for you individually.

I have no idea what you're carrying walking into a space like this. But I believe wholeheartedly

that in this moment, it is more important for us to be together as the people of God singing as one than it is for us to be

separated and spaced out as great of a season as that was. And I want to continue to acknowledge

and recognize that there are people participating in the life of our church. Lots of them,

probably more of them than are physically coming today online and that's not that's not like a

second string way of going about being a part of acc like that's going to be a part of our church for the

long haul but our elders and our prayer team just leaning in to god and going okay god what's your

timetable for when you would have us open this building. This was more of a spiritual

decision than anything else. As we near the end of a year where people are desperate and

divided and angry and hurting and sick and for many totally broken and at the end of themselves,

we felt like it's more important for the world that we're called to serve,

that our doors be open and that they stay closed.

And so just you're showing up today and standing behind us in that means a lot.

You know, I have like a really sensitive message that I'm about to preach.

And I just told God, like,

please don't let them judge me for how many times I cried today.

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