Dear Synod,
I am thankful for the faithful and mature leaders in our synod who put faith and intelligence together as they lead these days.
Faith and science go together. They always should have for Christians, and always should. Our hearts and our minds are gifts from God that are meant to work together and so fulfill our calling in Christ to love God and love our neighbor.
When is it safe/smart to return to our congregational buildings?
I sent out a pastoral letter last week than included many links to when it is safe to return to Gathering in-person in our church buildings. In particular, I urge everyone to read:
both of which are also found on our Web Site
www.nemnsynod.org
under
COVID-19; Pastoral and Congregational Resources
. I urge you as congregations to form a Smart Team which would start with your Pastor and Council and then include others in the congregation who understand true health concern and who combine faith and intelligence. We need our most capable and non-anxious leaders right now, who understand how serious COVID-19 is and that decisions to return back to an in person gathering of any kind in the church building will need to be very well planned out. Your Team will be respected by all except perhaps by those who push prematurely for re-entry into the building without thinking through the consequences.
Dr. Michael Osterholm
Pandemics have been a part of history throughout the world. Health experts expect virus infections, these are not surprises. On Tuesday, May 5, I participated in a zoom presentation hosted by the ELCA Minneapolis Area Synod in which Dr. Michael Osterholm talked about COVID-19. It was sobering and honest, yet I felt a kind of relief that we could courageously name what is happening with this pandemic, and do it with other leaders intelligently. Dr. Osterholm is a member of Edina Community Lutheran Church. He is an epidemiologist and the Director of the University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. He stressed the long-term nature of this global health crisis and the importance of our taking steps to mitigate the rapid spread of the virus. He stressed that “we live in virus time and the virus will continue to seek out and attach to humans.” Today it is the number one cause of death in the USA, surpassing for example cancer and heart disease. Aerosol spreading through coughing, sneezing, talking, singing is the deadliest form of transmission. If you could use a glow light to see the particles in a room where people were in, even hours after you would be very surprised at the aerosol particles left there. We have to really think carefully before bringing people together in rooms, even with physical distancing and no touch, such as the choir members in a church in Seattle. Testing and contract tracing helps of course. We will continue to see a spread. While new cases of the coronavirus may decline periodically, we will have this health crisis until one of the following occurs:
· A vaccine is developed, produced and distributed widely, or
· 60% - 70% of the population is infected and herd immunity is developed
Until then we are all susceptible but especially the more vulnerable in our midst. That means people of any age with underlying health conditions (e.g. asthma, diabetes, heart conditions and older people) are especially at risk of the disease and even death. Dr. Osterhom stressed we need to be prepared for some tumultuous months ahead. There is both the unpredictability and yet the certainty of the virus. Using visual images the activity of the virus could be like any of the following:
· A slow burn of a fire across a field of grass
· Waves of differing size that come crashing periodically with lulls between
· One huge sudden outbreak
Thoughts and recommendations:
1-We still have no certainty about when congregations will be able to gather in person for worship. Remember aerosol transmission. I urge us to be patient and wise and continue to be the Body of Christ we already are. Don’t be bullied by the emotions of some into gathering in person too soon.
2- Now is the time to begin to intelligently prepare for the months ahead.
3- Get your “smart” team together; Remember to start with the Gospel: Christ our Lord is with us, now and always. You can count on it. It’s a promise. When it is safe to think in-person gathering, deal with all the issues: Cleaning, distancing, insurance, no singing, multiple worship services due to size, care of those who can’t be there, Holy Communion safe practices, outdoor worship possibilities……………There may be a relatively safer time to gather, only to be followed by the “wall of the hurricane” afterward. We have to remain vigilant.
4-Plan on a gradual and phased in return to Gatherings in person in your congregation ( See the three phases referenced in the two Guideline resources I named above)
5- Encourage, high risk people to stay at home, continue to offer online worship for all
6- Protect your congregation from liability: Check with your insurance carrier and an attorney if you have one or know one that could help you. Don’t risk the legal issues that could follow an outbreak caused by negligence or ignoring recommended practices.
7- Be both loving and understanding of all and make that the beginning reminder at every planning meeting while at the same time, lead with confidence that health concerns are paramount.
8- Keep on doing the good job of connecting with one another, especially with the phone for all your congregational members in whatever way works for your congregation. Connection with each other is so important, and I’m grateful for the ways I hear you spreading this connecting ministry around in different ways.
9- The Church is changing. That’s not all bad. We are more grateful today for those things we took for granted as the Body of Christ. New ways of being the church is a good thing.
10 – I stand with all of you as your Synod Shepherd. We are bound forever in baptism and in Christ’s promise of keeping us in this life and the next (something we don’t often talk about, but should!)
A huge thanks to Synod Attorney, Mike Bash
Many of our leaders are now familiar with our Synod Attorney Mike Bash. Mike is a lifelong Lutheran who has been very helpful to me as your Bishop and to a number of congregations who get the benefit of his insights. Our five Conference Deans met with him via zoom after the COVID-19 pandemic hit. We are grateful for his kind, intelligent, cautions but deeply faithful and evangelical commitment to the church and our Northeastern Minnesota Synod.
Along with our other Minnesota ELCA Bishops, I am working on a joint letter that will come out on May 18. Please look for it.
Let us continue to live honestly with our laments, smartly with our responses, and deeply in the gift of faith the Spirit grants us in these days even in the midst of this pandemic.
In Christ, who has already claimed you forever,
+Bishop Thomas M. Aitken
