To my Holy Trinity Family,

I just came for a meeting with church council and we discussed how to best proceed with being the church as we grapple with the spreading of COVID-19. The discussion was honest and open with many and varied opinions and options being discussed.

In a nutshell, here is what we unanimously decided.

We will have a stripped down version of worship on tomorrow, Sunday, March 15. It will not include communion and we will not Sunday School or our regularly scheduled forum on Reconciling in Christ.
After those worship services, we are suspending all church related activities, including Sunday morning and Wednesday evening worship. Tentatively, we hope to resume all church functions beginning on Palm Sunday, April 5.
We are closing the church to all outside groups, except for the three AA meetings as we will allow them to make their own decision.
We are doing all of this to "flatten the curve." Meaning, COVID-19 is going to spread. We know we can not stop that from happening, but can we slow the spread of the virus so our healthcare system is able to handle it.

There was great discussion around this next point. The church is to be a place of refuge during times of stress and danger. There is something that doesn't feel right about closing our doors, suspending worship and other gatherings and being limited to finding ways of being together solely through technology. Yet, if we continue to operate normally, we become a place of stress and danger. Simply by gathering together, we are putting people at risk. Therefore, we wanted to find ways to "flatten the curve" concerning gatherings. To do this, the sanctuary will be open, during set times that are yet to be determined, to those who want to come and be in a place that offers great comfort to them. During these times, there will be no formal worship offered, simply a place to sit and be quiet while music is played in the sanctuary. I will be available for pastoral counseling and conversations. By doing this, we hope to honor the social distancing that is being required during these times, but not allow it to move to social isolation. At the end of each of these times, we will take the appropriate measures to clean and disinfect well.

Sermons for the next two Sundays will still be given, just in different ways. Think of when church is cancelled due to a snowstorm. They will be posted on facebook, youtube, podcasts and directly on the church website. Please use all of those platforms to gather digitally during this time. In addition to the sermons, we will provide other faith formation content to be used individually or as a family.

Lastly think about who might be isolated during these times. Who will the measures that we are taking as a society have a largely detrimental impact? Is there someone who needs help with childcare because schools are closed? Is there someone who is quarantined to their nursing home in which you could reach out to with a phone call? Is there someone who is homebound that you could arrange a safe visit with? As a council, we ask each of you to call 5 people from the church and ask how they are doing, and to make 2 of those phones calls to people you do not know. Even though we are not able to meet in our "church" we are still called to "be the church." We just have to figure what that looks like.

Thank you for your patience, faith and courage during this time.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Tim