church leaders and feel a personal responsibility to help us do all that we can to make sure worship and other activities are done as safely as possible. I, and our PRG, also do not want to make these requirements more cumbersome than they need to be. I am grateful to Dr. Jim Wickham who has advised our group throughout the PRG. Jim has been generous with his time and his wisdom has been invaluable.
Our PRG has concurred that we want to continue worshiping in person and we want to go forward with the activities of the season that are so important to us: Sunday morning worship, our Advent Lessons and Carols Service on December 12, our Church Picnic on December 12, and our worship service on Christmas Eve which will be held at 8:30 p.m. this year preceded by “Music for the Season” presented by our wonderful choir accompanied by strings and Stan on the organ.
To move forward safely, we are making a few changes
and humbly ask that you observe these practices going forward.
- We ask all people attending worship to wear masks throughout the service, except those who will be speaking from the pulpit. The choir will continue to mask while rehearsing and singing in worship. We will have masks available if you need them.
- We ask all people to sign in either at the front entrance or the rear entrance from the alley. This will let us know who needs to be contacted in the event of another Covid diagnosis.
- We ask all people to observe the Health Acknowledgement Form at the sign-in areas. Please be honest with yourself. If you have symptoms (fever, cough, etc.) or have been exposed to someone who has had Covid, we ask that you do not enter the building. If you feel ill at all, please stay home that Sunday.
- We ask all people to continue to practice careful hand sanitation.
- We ask all people to observe social distancing. The CDC is currently recommending that we go back to observing 6 feet of social distance between other persons. Please do your best to observe this while in the building. Of course, family units can sit together as we have been doing.
- If you do attend worship or another church function and receive a positive Covid diagnosis please notify us so that we can pray for you, support you, and notify others. These notifications are confidential. I hope we will all remember that any one of us could contract Covid 19 even while we are doing our best to live as safely as possible.
I feel certain that these steps will help us care for and protect one another and will allow us to continue our worship and fellowship in person. We’ve all learned how vital and important our personal connections with brothers and sisters in Christ is to our personal faith and well-being.
I hope you’ll read
Malachi 3:1-4 in preparation for worship this Sunday. I look forward to worshiping with you and continuing the journey to the future God has in store for us.
Yours in Christ,
Matt
