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| Office rose in bloom this week |
Dear Grace Church Family,
Lisa and I miss you all so very much. We look forward to
the day when we are all together again in a similar fashion to what we are used
to. I know I miss our worship, talking before and after worship, spending time
with our children and youth, communion, and so much more.
As you know Governor Northam has said that churches may
resume worship this weekend in a limited way. That is not the case with the
churches of the VA Conference. Bishop Lewis is not permitting in-person worship
at this time.
The conference has designed a handbook that each church
is to use to get ready for in-person worship. We have been instructed to form a
Healthy Church Team and I have asked several people to serve as members. If you
are interested please contact me.
The handbook is very extensive. As I read it yesterday I
was impressed with the care and hard work that went into it. It is also very,
very clear that worship will not be the same at all during the first weeks or
months of opening under the provisions of this handbook.
For example, everyone will have to register to attend
worship by Thursday of each week. Everyone who attends will need to wear a
mask, come with their own hand sanitizer, take their temperature at home that
morning, and sit six feet from another person or family. There will be no
nursery, children's time during worship, fellowship time, handshakes or
hugging, no choir or singing. If you are sick in any way you are to stay home.
No baptisms. No passing of the plate for the offering. There is also the
suggestion that the service be rather brief, no more than 30 minutes or so. The
longer everyone is together the higher the risk of a possible exposure to the virus.
Once the service is over everyone leaves. There will be no bulletin, hymnals,
pew Bibles, or any other similar materials. No Sunday School.
So as you can see under these strict protocols things
will be very, very different. Once the bishop decides a specific date we can
determine if that works for us or can wait until we are ready. Classes and
groups can continue to use Zoom and committees can meet with 10 or less members
present and physical distancing. I will continue to put a sermon on Facebook
each week with lots of help from Lisa.
The motive for these restrictions is one taken from Mr.
Wesley who took it from the Hippocratic Oath: "Do No Harm." We also
want to hear our Lord's call to "Love your neighbor as you love
yourself" (Matthew 22:39 NIV).
We take all the precautions we need because we do not want
this to happen at Grace:
https://www.wrcbtv.com/story/42126834/ringgold-church-cancels-services-after-3-church-members-test-positive-for-covid19
So at this time we seek wisdom from the Lord in how we
may best care for one another. We pray for the day when this virus subsides and
many are healed. We pray for our leaders, scientists, and those who work in healthcare
and who are first responders.
Again, we miss you and look forward to being together
again as church family.
Grace + peace,
Clay+
Resources:
Back to In Person Worship PlanBishop's Plan Summary
Handbook for Local Churches
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