Outdoor Worship

Since 2020, we have enjoyed outdoor worship in College Park during the summers. The innovation of an al fresco service was initially a response to the challenge of the pandemic, but it also offered a solution to a long-standing inconvenience: a sanctuary without air conditioning!

While COVID no longer compels us to meet outdoors, we choose to gather in the park not simply to be more comfortable, but because the last three years have reminded us that the church is essentially not a building; it is the ekklesia, a Greek word denoting the “called out” people of God. As we spread out on the grass, beneath majestic trees and (often) blue skies, we are reminded that “the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands” (Acts 7:48). Where two or three (or one hundred and three) are gathered, God is with us.

Because we worship a God who is “making all things new” (Revelation 21:5), innovation is part of St. Matthew’s identity. Ultimately, we initiated services in the park because we wanted to be together as the Body of Christ in a way that Zoom could never replicate. In doing so, we discovered many new things, including more freedom for children to move about (and dance); opportunities for four-footed family members to participate; and a closer connection to neighbors who can see and hear our joyful assembly.

We are familiar with many rhythms of the church year; vestments, banners, and the liturgy mark Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost. Let us regard worship beneath the open sky as our unique contribution to the ecclesiastical calendar! By observing the transition into “ordinary time” after the Easter season with a physical move to the outdoors, we remind ourselves of God’s declaration that “Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool” (Isaiah 66:1). Thus, wherever we worship together, including a small green space in College Park, is holy ground.