the church rolls on
Dear First Pres SLO Family,
Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ, the one who came and loved and showed us some of what God is like.
And so another strange summer comes to an end… Restrictions and guidelines, spikes in infections and a continuing need to be careful. I know that most of us are thinking (or saying out loud) “enough already”. Know that I and the rest of our ministry team share your frustration and impatience—we’re in this together, even if we have to keep varying degrees of distance.
As I said on Sunday, we are watching the new infection rates closely. We’re not changing anything just yet, but I want all of us to create a little mental space for the possibility that we may have to close again and go back to worshipping together on Zoom. It’s not what we want, and it’s not what we hope for, but it is a real possibility and we don’t do anyone any favors to pretend that it’s not. We will communicate clearly and promptly when and if there are decisions we have to take.
In the meantime, the ministry of the church rolls on. We have a baptism this Sunday, there are new people coming to the church who connected with us during the pandemic, and we’re still working to serve you and our community as the people of God at First Pres.
We just finished our Wednesday evening class on the Creeds of the Faith. We started with the question that Jesus asks his disciples in Matthew 16: “Who do you say that I am?” We looked at the ancient creeds to see how early Christians defined our faith and helped us understand who Christ is and what the Trinity means. We jumped ahead after that to look at what the modern creeds and confessions teach us about how we’re meant to live as Christ-followers in our own culture and society. If you missed it, all of the sessions were recorded and are available on the church website.
We’re looking ahead to a new church year. When it’s safe we’ll get to have social events and classes and a church choir. Soon we’ll be announcing a new addition to our staff (stay tuned). We will continue to worship together with our safety guidelines (see below), and also through our livestream and recorded options. We are serving Christ faithfully as a church, even as we keep each other safe from illness.
Please continue to pray for our church as we navigate the challenges in front of us. Let us know how we’re doing (really), and know that our main goal is to glorify God in our service to you.
Blessings to you all. Stay safe and healthy,
Pastor John
Here are the guidelines for reopening for public worship:
· Only vaccinated people will attend church in person.
· The sanctuary is open at about 50% capacity (about 100 people).
· Reservations will not be taken at first, but may be needed eventually.
· All people will enter through the Courtyard.
· All people will wear masks properly when indoors.
· We will continue to require distances between households of at least 3 feet.
· We will not be singing.
· We cannot allow hugging or other physical contact on church grounds.
· We will not be serving food or drinks until advised differently.
A few comments here. First, if you’re not feeling well, please stay home. Second, if these guidelines feel too restrictive to you, please address your personal liberty concerns to me or to a member of session, and NOT one of the ushers on Sunday morning. Finally, remember that this is good news! We’ve waited a long time to be together again, and we’re going to do it with caution and care and joy.
For those of you who will be watching from home, we’ve changed from the Zoom program to our own page on a program called YouTube. An email will be sent out each Friday with the bulletin and a link where you can tune in on Sunday morning to watch the service. I would recommend clicking the link a little early, just to make sure you can see what you’re supposed to be seeing. If something happens to the live link, the service will be recorded and available in the early afternoon on our regular YouTube page. We are moving our Zoom fellowship for online viewers to 3pm on Sunday afternoons. Instructions for all of this will be in the Friday email.