{"id":17551,"date":"2021-10-01T11:01:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-01T11:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/?p=17551"},"modified":"2021-10-02T15:11:38","modified_gmt":"2021-10-02T15:11:38","slug":"unfolding-grace-digitally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2021\/unfolding-grace-digitally\/","title":{"rendered":"Unfolding grace digitally"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-8f761849 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"> <em>By Jess Hoffert<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the Zoom grid of names and faces during this year\u2019s NYAC worship services, one of those squares held a very special place and purpose. For each service, one young adult was assigned to create a worship center in their home and spotlight it on their Zoom screen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the joyful noise came to an end, the worship center was spotlighted on everyone\u2019s screen, and the creator lit a candle placed at the heart of their center. What surrounded the candle varied based on the creativity of each participant: flowers, photos, quotes, and artwork provided thoughtful inspiration and meditation for worshipers as the candle glowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Each lighting only took a few seconds as Seth Hendricks played soft music in the background, but I often found it to be the most moving part of each service. There was something beautifully intimate about being invited into someone\u2019s home and seeing a unique work of art that they created for this moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Perhaps it was the fact that intimacy and calm is so challenging these days, especially on a platform like Zoom. People easily talk over each other, and quiet often means there\u2019s a technical glitch or someone\u2019s mic is accidentally muted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But here, in these worship services, the quiet was embraced as a moment to step back in awe and see grace unfold through the beautifully unique, God-inspired eyes of us all.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"375\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/NYAC_flower-500px.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-17552\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/NYAC_flower-500px.jpg 375w, https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/10\/NYAC_flower-500px-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 375px) 100vw, 375px\" \/><figcaption><em>Drawing by Kara Miller<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u2011\u2011\u2011\u2011\u2011\u2011\u2011\u2011\u2011\u2011<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Find more Church of the Brethren news:<\/p>\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__list wp-block-latest-posts\"><li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2026\/six-awards-from-associated-church-press\/\">Messenger and Communications receive six awards from the Associated Church Press<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2026\/conscientious-objection-event-for-adults\/\">Virtual event for adults will follow on conscientious objection sessions for young people<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2026\/world-refugee-day-service\/\">Deportation Defense Response invites participation in World Refugee Day Ecumenical Service<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2026\/brethren-bits-111\/\">Brethren bits<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a class=\"wp-block-latest-posts__post-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2026\/jeff-thomson-to-direct-bdm\/\">Jeff Thomson hired to direct Brethren Disaster Ministries<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the Zoom grid of names and faces during this year\u2019s NYAC worship services, one of those squares held a very special place and purpose. For each service, one young adult was assigned to create a worship center in their home and spotlight it on their Zoom screen. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17552,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3,333,2230,1858],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-17551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-church-of-the-brethren","tag-national-young-adult-conference","tag-nyac","tag-youth-and-young-adult-ministries"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17551"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17572,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17551\/revisions\/17572"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17551"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=17551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}