Liturgy FOr the Living Room

Our Sunday worship offering is live, and we invite you to listen in as you settle in for a very different season of church together. Click the link below to listen.

Sunday worship and other public gatherings are Suspended until further notice

Friends and Family of FBC Pasadena,

There is enough anxiety in the world to go around right now. As your church family, we are here to help you stay grounded in peace, love, and belonging. So I’m writing today to explain how we will continue to be the church in the coming days, and it is my hope that FBCP will remain a refuge and a steady support in your life as we all navigate the anxious climate around us.

The spread of the coronavirus has intensified, and that has left every institution with tough decisions to make. Your pastoral staff and board leadership teams have been doing all we can to stay informed and to lean into the ways God has called us to live in love. Scripture repeatedly tells us not to fear, so we have chosen to lead from a place of prayer, trust, and imagination, asking God for wisdom and seeking what will be the most loving response.

After much prayerful discernment, it has become clear that it is time for organizations to suspend public gatherings for the sake of loving our neighbors and our local communities. Therefore, FBCP will be suspending our Sunday service gatherings as well as other public church gatherings beginning 03.12.2020 and adjust as this crisis evolves from week to week.

I am not saying in resignation that we are unable to be the church anymore. On the contrary, at this time we must be the church well and with all our hearts! But the ways we serve and connect must change for a little while. Social distancing is against our sacred nature, so this decision was not entered into lightly or without seeking the Spirit. Your pastoral team is healthy and in lower risk categories. But our church community is more diverse and more at risk. Churches, synagogues, mosques and other religious centers are over-represented by the most vulnerable population, especially older adults with weakened immune systems and those with limited financial resources and access to care. For many senior adults, a religious gathering might be the most dangerous exposure of their entire week. We had to consider the fact that our own gatherings could significantly affect the speed and reach of this new virus, impacting our community and Pasadena at large. The question was not whether we shut down church (which we aren’t!). The question was, how can we help? What’s our part in protecting people and showing selfless love, even when it’s not what we personally would choose? The answer was clear but certainly not easy. Suspending public gatherings protects the most vulnerable in our communities in effective ways, and that feels very much within our sacred nature. As leaders we must protect those in our care, even when it creates its own uncertainty and anxiety.

Please hear me—even though we are suspending large gatherings like Sunday worship, we will keep being the church! We are committed to deepening our mutual belonging and support. By suspending public gatherings, we are able to focus our leadership on caring for each of you within the shifting landscape of an escalating public health crisis. That is different pastoral work, and will necessitate a different kind of church programming and leadership function. But this is the exact work we are called to do, and we are eager to do it. Creativity is one of our core values, and this moment provides us an opportunity to be creative in new ways.

Here is what it looks like to for us to remain the church. In place of our regular workflow, our pastoral staff and Board leadership will begin caring for our church family in new ways. We are creating teams of connected care with a point person for each group and a staff member to offer guidance as well. These groups will begin making one-to-one calls with as many church folks as possible in the coming days and weeks, both to offer counsel and create communication paths back to our leadership teams. These connection groups will be the main way that we support one another in this season. This will take all of us, so if you would like to be part of the connection group leadership, click the link below and we will get you into our flow. We will need you to step into this moment with us, so if you have time and gifts of organization and communication, we need your help. If you are part of a group that meets in small gatherings like home groups and support groups, we will be reaching out to each of you individually to offer guidance. If you are in such a group, expect communication from your leaders in the next few days. And recognize the power you all have to support one another since you have already nurtured a mutual belonging ahead of this crisis.

In the absence of our gatherings, we understand that you all need spiritual comfort in unique ways right now. You need a framework within which to understand what is happening around the world and ways to thrive until life goes back to normal. So our pastoral team will begin releasing frequent content to you all through email and text. (For this season, technology might have some redeeming qualities!) This content will all be on our website, too. If you aren’t plugged into those mediums, we will make good old-fashioned phone calls and send letters. While we will help synthesize virus updates and keep you informed so you can avoid anxious news sources, we are most interested in helping you make sense of things from a spiritual and pastoral perspective. We will be lending our voice in every medium at our disposal: videos, writing, audio, important links and news. There are lots of ways we want to come alongside you, like providing songs, guided prayer time, fun things to do if you are home all day, and ways to create sanctuary in your home. Some of it will be informative. Some of it will be silly and lighthearted. Most of it will be practical so that you have every tool to stay connected and grounded. Take what is helpful and share it with your friends and family. Help us know what you need by using the link below to reach out. We will make the most of what we have at our fingertips to keep us all connected.

For Sunday worship, we have a plan as well. Our worship teams and pastors will be crafting an audio podcast episode each week that you will receive on Sunday morning over text and email in addition to finding it on our website. This will include singing and prayers, a reflection/teaching from me, as well as opportunities to continue generous financial giving through offering. The experience will be different from our usual Sunday morning worship, but we are excited about sharing what we create in love. And we will be inviting you to participate, too!

If we walk these next steps with prayerful intention and the joy and peace of Christ, we will be a healthier church community. We will trust each other more and see more deeply into each other’s hearts. The pain of this moment is an indication that we care for one another. We will dig deep and tighten bonds. We still belong to one another. And if we do this work well, we will become a blessing to one another and our community in ways beyond our comprehension. These are troubled times, but our faith has prepared us for such a time as this. Don’t be afraid! This is the time to believe our message. This is our occasion to enact it. You are known and loved in this community, and we are ready to do this work together.

less without you,

Pastor John Jay Alvaro