Outdoor Church Update

Hello church family,

Anyone else feel like the year 2021 found out how insane 2020 was and thought, "Oh, I can do better (worse) than that!"? But I keep saying (to myself as much as to y'all) that our work is to see the world as it actually is, and then abide within that world with courage and clarity. I am as tired of shifting plans as I am sure you are. But we must continue to be nimble and flexible, which is why I am writing you. After consulting with our staff, Covid Advisory Team and Board of Deacons, we have decided to remain online-only for Sunday worship. So for at least the reminder of January we will not have outdoor church in the garage.

The surge in Covid cases in our area is a real concern, with holiday travel still causing significant spikes in infection rates. So we hope that a couple more weeks online will allow the cases to level off and us to regroup with an adjusted outdoor strategy. We will be communicating about returning to the garage at the end of this month. Nothing is for sure, but we are prayerfully hoping that the virus subsides enough for us to return to outdoor church responsibly.

This Sunday, January 17, at 7pm, we will be hosting a Zoom prayer service led by our staff. There is a lot of turmoil that dominates our minds right now, but it is always wise to slow down, breathe deep and enter into a practice of prayer. I am as guilty of running ahead of prayer to search for knowledge and solutions as anyone else. So let’s come together to pray and quiet our hearts. We’ll send out a link on Sunday so you can join.

We are also seeing some positive Covid infections within our church family and one of our staff members. Marco Echaury, our head of Building and Grounds, tested positive over the weekend. He has given us permission to share this update, and we are grateful that he is showing mild symptoms at this point and continuing to improve. We do not have further staff exposure, in large part because of safety protocols Marcie Lumpkin has established within the building. Tom Harris is also in the hospital with Covid and other health complications. He is 93 and physically vulnerable in lots of ways. So this is a more serious case. Be praying for his family.

We also lost Bob Maase this last week at the age of 97 (a week from his 98th birthday). He died from complications unrelated to Covid. Death after a long life is always both a joy and a grief. But when we are unable to gather in the sanctuary to share in the rituals of grief and loss, the entire process of saying goodbye and remembering well are complicated. So we are praying about how to best honor Bob's life, as well as others we have lost this year and may yet lose in the months to come. Death is a normal part of church life, but once again nothing is normal these days.

There is more to speak about, and plenty of time to do so. But for now those are the highlights.

Be safe friends.

Less without you,

Pastor John Jay