Our Approach to Worship This Week – Nov. 6, 2020

Greetings! I’m writing to tell you about our plan for indoor worship this Sunday. As always, the elders will review our approach on Sunday night. Please let us know if you have any feedback or suggestions.

We know that there is a spectrum of opinion regarding COVID itself, and the government’s lockdown. At the same time, we are grateful that God has blessed us with our building. It provides us different options for accommodating some of that spectrum of opinion. We know we won’t please everyone, but after extensive conversations last Sunday evening and this week, we feel this is the best approach, for now:

Our overall policy remains unchanged. In essence:

  • It follows that of the County, which has ordered social distancing, masks, and no singing under masks indoors.
  • We are not enforcing this policy on behalf of the County.
  • As you already know, stay home if you’re sick or been exposed to the sick.
  • The county allows those with a health reason to not wear a mask. We leave determining that health reason to you.

We have multiple options for where and how to worship in our building this week:

  • The main sanctuary remains a mixed room, regarding masks, distancing and singing, because of the above policy.
  • The multi-purpose room will be reserved for mask-wearing and no singing under masks only. The service will be live-streamed into that room. We don’t like that this physically segments us. Therefore, we will have a responsive reading during worship, when we will all be speaking the same words of worship together.
  • In either room, if you would like to block off seats to achieve social distancing, take a pink sheet and lay it on 2-3 seats. This will alert others that those seats are taken. These will be available at our new Information Center.
  • You may also sit outside on the patio, or in the cafe. The service will be live-streamed into those areas. And it will continue to be live-streamed online (see the website).
  • Outside doors will be left open, for ventilation. So be warned: we’ll have the heat on, but it may get drafty.

GraceKids (Nursery-4th grade) will continue as normal – drop-off is either at the nursery door, or in the elementary classroom.

Everyone who enters this week will receive a tip sheet explaining this approach. We do this to be considerate of everyone, especially newcomers, before they enter. Then everyone can make their own informed choice as to how and where they would like to worship.

One more thing. It strikes me, against the backdrop of the election and disagreement about COVID, just how important it is that we gather together this Sunday, united around Christ. Our very gathering in love and unity is a proclamation in itself to our fractured world: that there is another city, a city of God, where the divisions of men get dissolved, under the white hot light of the glory of God, revealed to us in the face of Jesus.

So I pray that this Sunday, by His Spirit, you would meet with him, no matter where you sit. And I pray that our unity around him would make for a sweet aroma before His throne.

–Pastor Jed

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