This past Sunday, June 28, we chose to cancel the three worship services…at the very last minute Sunday morning. You know how much I hated making that call. We had three key staff members who were either sick or had been directly exposed to Covid 19. The end result is that we had three key staff members either in quarantine or isolation. I was one of the three. I could not answer the wellness questions and chose to err on the side of caution. When it comes to Covid 19, erring on the side of caution is most likely the correct choice. So, the Praise Team that was ready to lead all ended up in self quarantine; the praise team that usually leads was already in quarantine awaiting test results (at least three have been negative!); one Pastor was on an already scheduled vacation (well deserved, I might add); the Media Production Team had members who did not feel safe in attending; we were down to a guest leading our worship with no rehearsal, no lyrics loaded and no backup singers or instrumentals. There was no pre-recorded message because of quarantine issues. We quit including the killer hornets and the African dust clouds as part of the equation! Plan A, B and C was just not happening. A good while back, we had briefly talked about how easy and quickly the entire staff could be taken out of service. We did not realize how accurate our conversations were. So, our three Worship Services were called off around 7:00 A.M. Sunday morning out of necessity and caution.
WHAT NEXT?
The last staff meeting we had included discussion of what else we could do to help promote safety. We were down three options. All three are still on the table. First, some research shows our best bet is to have all the services outside. If we go there, we will work out details later. The second option was to co-operate with making wearing mask mandatory for those who can wear masks. It should be understood that some people cannot wear mask and others have reasons they are opposed to wearing them. Could we also understand that there should be no shaming of someone who disagrees with your position? As followers of Christ we are called to love one another, encourage one another and about 40 other “one another’s” in the Bible. For those who can, I think you could add “wear mask for one another”. The third option was to once again temporarily postpone in person gatherings. That means we would not have any of the three worship services.
We went with option three. We are temporarily suspending all three of the worship services until further notice. I know this is the correct thing to do. It still hurts to not be able to gather, see faces (or at least eyes) and to sing and worship. Gregg and Jane Steenbergen have the best idea yet. They gather on their lawn with neighbors and watch the JIBC service. How cool would that be if that trend caught on!
Blessings to you all: Stay healthy, pray more, praise more and think of how you can reach out and help others more.
Pastor Tom
