Outdoor services, building community and connecting with the past

Yesterday when I was in Western Pennsylvania, my wife and I attended church with her parents.
It was a service that served to kick off the summer season, as well as celebrate Father's Day. The interesting thing was that this service was outdoors. Now, what made it interesting to me was the ambiance.

This church has been around since the late 1800's/early 1900's and is in the vein of the classic rural American country church. Having the service outdoors gave me this overwhelming sense of community and connection with the people gathered and with the American church of the past.

I am not claiming that there was something truly mystical going on, but I did get a sense of what it would have been like to worship "back in the day" with a goat singing along with the congregation, and the rooster crowing while the pastor was preaching his sermon.

It just seemed to take me back to another time before internet, automobiles and so on; something simple and something beautiful.

Now, I do not mean that our modern conveniences are bad and should be avoided, but I think that it's good every so often to slow down, do something different, connect with each other and connect with our past.