It’s Time
From Pastor Zach Misch
Usually when I think of June I think of summer vacation, spending time outside, and BBQ. However, this is an odd year. Coming out of the seasons winter and spring hampered by a pandemic the summer looks to be the beginning of a return to what we might identify as normal. As both state and national restrictions are lifted there are questions about when the church will “open” back up and allow for public worship again. I want to assure everyone in the congregation that the leadership of the church has asked this question and has come up with a plan. However, I also feel like we need to temper expectations as we plan on easing back into worship with some modifications.
Our return to gathering together for public worship will be June 14th. Even though we are opening the doors we have a few requests of the congregation as we seek to be as safe as we can as we return to public worship. Those requests are as follows:
Please wear a face mask.
Please maintain a “safe” distance from one another as able.
If you feel sick we encourage you to stay home and watch the service online.
If you are concerned about attending public worship we encourage you to stay home and watch the service online.
Feel free to socialize outside after the service in order to avoid overcrowding the small narthex.
In addition to the stated requests there will be some modifications to the worship and communion during this period as we ease back into the worship routine. I will wash my hands before and after communion and I will wear a mask during the distribution. We will try to maintain some distance between each other at communion rail. It is okay to stand at the rail instead of kneel to avoid contact with the rail. The common cup will not be offered. I will not place the wafer on the tongue of a communicant. Empty cups will be deposited in a basket placed away from the rail.
In order to help prevent a possible spread we will not sing the liturgy for the time being. If people are okay with wearing masks we might be able to return to a normal service sooner.
We will not be meeting for Bible Study and Sunday School at this time. Also, Wednesday evening gatherings will continue to be on hiatus.
I would like to address the online service. This is something that we will continue even after all the restrictions are lifted, and we have returned to what we might identity as normal. In order to provide the best quality possible we have been pre-recording the service on Saturday and we have been premiering it at 10:30am on Sunday. Since we will shift recording the service to Sunday morning, the recording will not be available to be watched until 6:00pm that evening. We will also experiment with providing a low quality live stream at 10:30am Sunday morning. Because of the lack of internet bandwidth available at the church we cannot guarantee a good worship experience with the live stream. However, we will do our best to make the option available.
Furthermore, it is important to know that we cannot guarantee that there will be no infections or spread of the virus in this congregation through our gathering together. However, with these temporary changes we hope to be as safe as we can as we seek to gather together again for worship.
Thank you,
Pastor