Joanne Reitz Hench

Always Before Me Joanne Reitz Hench

In these days of social distancing and isolation due to the worldwide health crisis, people are discouraged from gathering and warned not to sing together. What is it we do in the church? We gather and we sing. We gather to worship and praise, and to hear the Word. We sing to respond to the Word and the joy of redemption. We gather and we sing. But, unfortunately, not during these days. Into this unfamiliar atmosphere comes the book Always Before Me. Inspired by words etched on a bell atop a small church in Luck Wisconsin - "To the Bath and the Table, to the Prayers and the Book, I call every seeking soul," Ms. Hench explores the ways in which acts of worship can continue, even in the privacy of your own home. Can breaking bread with your family or distributing food to the hungry be a Communion? Does taking a shower bring you back to your Baptism?Always Before Me invites us to look at our everyday activity with new eyes, to recognize simple, mindful deeds as acts of worship. Ms. Hench, in this study, offers a path to continue gathering together in heart, and in mind, and in spirit, while we await the "new normal" in the life of the church.