Greetings City Church Family,

I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to spend the summer on sabbatical. After a fairly nonstop 12.5 years of ministry at City Church, including the heavy season of COVID, my mind, body, and heart felt very disconnected, tired, and worn out. Over the summer, I had the opportunity to begin to reawaken the parts of my spiritual journey that had become stale, as well as to begin new practices and rhythms to seek healing and wholeness for the weariness. Throughout the season of sabbatical, I leaned heavily into rest, learning for the first time what it feels like to truly take a long, deep breath, but also what it feels like to let go of many things that have so heavily burdened me and no longer serve me or my call here at City Church. I felt God’s presence deeply and often—in moments of stillness, in the joy of riding a bike, and even in the moments of finding a new favorite bagel (St-Viateur).

My love and connection with music were rekindled as I found myself playing and singing for the first time in a while, alone and for the pure sake of joy. There was no one present and no agenda, just playing and singing, and it reminded me so much of my early years of ministry. It also reminded me how special it is that we get to come together each week and sing songs that can not only stir our hearts and imaginations towards God but also give us fresh insight and language into the type of world God has called our church to co-create.

One aspect of the sabbatical that I’m very excited to share was the opportunity to continue my education on musical production. I met often with a producer who helped me craft not only more concrete skills but also avenues for us to begin to self-produce our own music, podcasts, meditations, etc in the coming years as God continues to build our Worship Community. If you are reading this and are excited by that idea, please email me and join the worship team. You can join the band, vocalists, choir, readers or tech team. Everyone has a part to play!

Finally, as I look ahead to 2024-2025, one of the resounding messages I received during my time away was the word joy. Joy that we have what we need. Joy that all things will work out. Joy that we can make it through. So as I begin to reengage with the team and Sunday worship, I am going to invite you into that work of joy. My prayer for our church in this season is that we show up for worship and sink deeply into God’s love with gratitude and love.

With Gratitude,

Jason Morrell
Director of Worship Arts