STEPS FORWARD

Luke 24:28-30 NRSV

28As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. 30When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.

As you know, we changed many of our practices during the Covid pandemic to manage risk. As vaccinations continue to rise, the disease appears to be relinquishing its grasp on our lives in our local area. That is exhilarating news!

I must admit how uplifting worship has been for me as we have returned to the building at both 9:30 am and 11 am (and yes, air conditioning has been nice too!) Equally wonderful is how many have discovered worshipping online is their preferred way to worship God. We continue to reach people online that we otherwise would not have reached.  That’s exhilarating news too!

As we continue to move into our “post pandemic” posture, here are some key things to note:

1.   Per our Leadership Board, Masks will become optional for everyone beginning Sunday, June 13th. Feel free to continue to wear a mask beyond June 13th if that is how you personally choose to manage your own risk. We will also continue to have some sections in worship that will allow for social distancing. As always, please feel free to sit where you feel most comfortable. We do ask that you please stay home if you feel sick.

2.   Our online produced worship service will remain and continue at 10:15 am on Sunday mornings. We are grateful for the creative talent that has gone into our online worship experiences. Pray for our ability to connect more people to Jesus as we continue to develop our online community campus as a second campus of our local church.

3.   We are reinstating the cycle of serving Holy Communion on the first Sunday of each month in our gathered worship services. If a unique set of circumstances forces us to deviate from that schedule, we will communicate those changes. We will continue to use the prepackaged communion elements for the time being. Our congregational care team is also reinstating homebound Holy Communion in the month of June.

Pray without ceasing that we may continue to safely walk towards our “new normal” together. It’s wonderful to see people we have not “seen” for some time. For me, and for many others, this is answered prayer. Thanks be to God!

God’s Joy,