May 15, 2021
Good morning everyone,
A very small story about my week. On Tuesday, John, our Council President, and I had a conversation about slowly re-introducing some things such as coffee hour and social activities throughout the spring and summer. On Thursday, the CDC introduced the new guidelines that masks are no longer necessary anywhere if you are vaccinated. On Friday, I emailed the council about how we would like to address what has happened, and on Friday evening, Bishop Egensteiner issued a statement to churches about the new guidelines. It has been quite a week!
Here is what the council and I concluded. Even with the new CDC guidelines, we are going to move a little slower until we get a better picture of how these new rules have changed things. For the time being, we are going to still ask for masks for indoor worship and leave it optional for outdoor worship. This applies for individuals who are fully vaccinated.
We don’t want to create a two system congregation and would like to incorporate all into the life of the church. At least through May, we are going to keep with our original path and continue to monitor everything. We will still worship outdoors when we are able and indoors when the weather is not cooperating.
When the weather becomes too hot, we may make some other decisions, but this approach gives us time to breathe and time for people to receive the vaccine, especially teenagers and children who were just allowed to receive the vaccine this week.
As for tomorrow, we are still going to play it by ear as there is a small chance of thunderstorms even with sunny weather. We may also have a solution to the spotty internet, but it won’t be in place for another few weeks, so if Facebook gives out, give about 40 minutes after the conclusion of the service and a clean copy will be online.
Thanks everyone!
Pastor Johnson