“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind”
Its been over a month with shelter-in-place orders from the Coronavirus (COVID19) pandemic, but it seems the worst of it may be over. The Palisades District, which is our group of United Methodist Churches, has had zero new deaths and no new cases of coronavirus in the last two weeks. Many people are beginning to wonder “when will the church open again?” The answer to that is not straight forward. The Bishop of our Annual Conference has instructed our churches to follow state guidelines and only reopen when it is deemed safe by the Governor. The last month has been “stage zero” with only essential personnel allowed to work and essential businesses open. As of May 18th some businesses have reopened, gatherings of 10 or fewer people are allowed and gatherings with everyone inside of closed cars are allowed. This is what’s known as “stage one” reopening. Stage two and three still have to take place before churches will finally be allowed to reopen. We know many are eager to return to our usual patterns, including worship, so we are watching closely for direction from the state. We have been given further details from the Bishop of steps we must take before reopening, which you can read here. Ultimately, our Church Board must meet and decide when is the right time for us to hold public worship again.
Some have wondered if our church could have just a few people gather at one time for worship, or have a worship service with everyone in their vehicles in the church parking lot. Though this is possible, the Church Board decided to maintain our online worship services through Facebook and telephone lines. We believe this is the best use of our resources, especially in the midst of a pastoral transition. We hope you will stay engaged through worship, small groups and mission opportunities (details are available through our congregational emails).
As for the coming pastoral transition, I would like to share how blessed I and my family have been to be a part of this church. It is difficult for us to leave, but we know the love you have shared with us will carry us. I will be preaching up to the date of my last sermon on June 14th, but after that I will only be dealing with pastoral emergencies until my last day, June 30th. After that Pastor Julie Lee officially begins. There is a schedule to make sure worship continues during the transition so continue to watch on Sundays, and be sure to give Pastor Julie a great welcome on July 5th!
If you have any questions be sure to reach out. We continue to answer email and check the church office voicemail daily. God bless!
