I have good news! We are in the beginning phases of organizing outdoor gatherings AT OUR BUILDING in the near future. We don’t have the specific dates yet, but I do know they will begin in early July. Here is some basic information to know.
• Strict safety guidelines and protocol will need to be followed, further details to come.
• They will have a different format than our “regular” worship.
• They are not replacing Sunday morning worship, but will be a supplement to it.
• They will occur twice during the week, at various times and days, but will NOT be on Sunday morning. Specific days and time will be released in the next 2 weeks.
• Each gathering will be the same for the week, but vary week to week.
• To attend, you will need to sign-up using “Sign-up Genius” or call the office. There will be a limited number of people who can attend at one time.
• Worship on Zoom will remain our primary weekly worship experience as it allows for the largest gathering of our community at one time.
• More specific details will be released within the next 2 weeks.
I know this is not ideal. Many people are craving and aching to resume worship in our building and are frustrated. If your question is, “When will we resume worship in the building?” the honest answer is, “We do not know.” There is simply too much unknown to make any kind of prediction and I believe it would be misleading and give-false hope to attempt to do so.
I do recommend you read the following article as it does a fine job of laying out the concerns that I have regarding in-building worship and why it will be a while until it resumes. It is an interview with Dr. Michael Osterholm, a leading epidemiologist in the world and has been on the forefront of COVID-19 research. On a side note, he is also a practicing ELCA Lutheran!
What I hope will reassure you is, except for not gathering in the building, we have not missed a beat. We continue to gather for Bible Study. We continue to provide resources to organizations in our community and have even given more, financially, than we were anticipating this year. We haven’t had to decrease any of our spending, specifically payroll and were able to do this without a PPP loan from the government. In fact, we are “in the black” regarding our finances this year!
This weekend, we were supposed to have our Semi-annual meeting. In place of it, Cristina Dolcino, the council president, and I will record a “State of the Church Address.” In it, we will share a bit more of where we are as a church and update everyone, as much as possible, of where we hope to go. It will be broad strokes that we hope will enable all of us to continually be encouraged during a time that can be so discouraging.
One last note (MORE GOOD NEWS!), we are going to resume communion in the near future as well. The synod has given churches recommendations and questions to answer in order to start this practice again. Soon, please look for more information on how this will happen and what you might want to do to prepare.
As always, thanks for allowing me to be your pastor during this time and for your presence in my life.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Tim