It’s Sunday morning and the faithful have gathered. But we are not in our pews. We’re under blue sky out on the lawn, one service at 10:30. It’s a test of how well we handle a change from the routine—one service instead of three, outside instead of inside, and obviously a different time.

Most of us do a good job of building levees that keep the flow of life within a routine. But we can miss an awful lot when we try to control the stream.

Most of the lawn in front of the church is taken up with folding chairs, lawn chairs, blankets, and a canopy for sound equipment. In two days we celebrate Independence Day so the list of songs includes “God Bless America” and then we sing these words by Lloyd Stone:

My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,
And sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine.
But other lands have sunlight too and clover,
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
Oh, hear my song, O God of all the nations,
A song of peace for their land and for mine.
(verse 2 of "A Song of Peace")