Updated 5/19: The latest proclamation of the governor of Michigan is allowing restaurants and retail businesses to reopen this week in the Upper Peninsula. I think that means it’s time to consider a date to resume gathering for worship. Not this Sunday, because I need to get a couple things ready (I ordered some face shields that might not be here in time), but I’m looking tentatively at 5/31 as a first Sunday back, Pentecost Sunday.
When we are able to gather in person again, these are some of the things we will likely be doing to keep people safe.
1. Masks: The governor currently requires masks for any indoor gathering in public buildings. As an alternative to the cloth masks that make breathing uncomfortable for any extended length of time, we will provide clear plastic face shields that can be worn with or without a mask. They provide additional protection by shielding your eyes and by directing all the water vapor you exhale harmlessly down toward the floor. We will provide both masks and face shields to any who need them.
2. Social Distancing by families: If you live together you can sit together. If not, try to sit in different pews, at least 6 feet apart, every other pew if possible. I don’t know how many members will feel comfortable gathering for worship when we first resume. If the number is greater than what the church will hold with social distancing in place, we can add a second (or third) worship service later on Sunday and ask those who live close by to come back, and then start scheduling multiple services for the following Sundays. When we first decide on a Sunday to resume, I’ll probably ask you to contact me (call, text, email) if you’ll be there, so we don’t have to send people home, and we can maybe plan it out so that the most vulnerable members come to an earlier service.
3. Sanitizer: We will have sanitizer on hand. You might want to use it both on arrival and before you leave if you have touched anything.
4. Hymnals, bulletins, and printed sermons: The services will be up on the tv screen so that people don’t need to handle hymnals at all. That probably doesn’t matter if we only have one service a week and you sit in the same pew each time. But touching anything at all which the virus might have settled on just from other people breathing in the same church air might best be avoided. There will be bulletins and printed sermons that I will only have handled with freshly sanitized hands, and if you are going to pick one up, I’d suggest you sanitize first so you don't transfer the virus onto other people's bulletins. But you really don’t have to take a bulletin if you don’t need one.
5. Singing: Studies have shown that singing draws the virus up from deep in your lungs or shakes it loose from the mucous on your vocal cords, and releases it and spreads it farther than mere breathing or speaking would. If you’re wearing a mask and sing no louder than conversationally, it shouldn’t be a serious issue, but we will be limiting our singing during worship to just a few verses of each hymn, very little sung liturgy, and no choir. I had hoped to let the choir sing the Easter song they had been practicing before this all arose, but that wouldn’t be advisable.
6. Holy Communion will be offered the first Sunday we are back, regardless of what Sunday that might be. You've gone hungry long enough. I’ll wear a mask or face shield and use sanitizer immediately before the distribution. Do not kneel (so you don’t have to touch the railing), and do not stand next to someone unless they are from your household (it’s okay if that means only 2 or 3 will be coming forward at a time). I will drop the wafer into your hand, and you’ll pick up your own cup to minimize physical contact. I am going to suggest that we offer Communion every Sunday for the duration so that those of you who don’t feel comfortable gathering every Sunday will be able to receive it whenever you do come.
7. Offering: The offering plate will be in the entryway. There will be no collection during the service that might require multiple people handling the plate. An alternative would be to mail your offering to the church or send it by automatic bank transfer (It would save our financial secretary from having to handle all that virus-sprinkled cash). We can look into the possibility of online giving as well, but nothing is set up for that right now.
8. If you want to talk to other members after such a long time apart, hopefully the weather will be warm enough to do all our socializing outdoors, where open spaces and moving air make infection much less likely. Minimize the face-to-face close-up conversations you hold inside the church. Studies suggest that it would take ten minutes or more of speaking to someone before passing an infection becomes likely, so we don’t have to be afraid of a little chitchat, but even a single cough or sneeze could do it.
9. No Bible Class or Sunday School until Fall, at the earliest.
10. Lastly… we want you to be safe… not just safe… but to feel safe as you feel comfortable to return. Not everyone will feel comfortable coming back right away. That is OKAY… We are still here for you and want to serve and love you in any way we can. If you'd like me to visit to bring the Lord's Supper to you, or you'd like a weekly sermon mailed to you, please let me know. If you have further ideas, let us know. Thank you for your patience and understanding during this time.
And to reiterate some of what I said in previous coronavirus messages:
We’ll be back to handshakes and hugs and potlucks and unguarded fellowship time soon enough. In the meantime, don’t give up your time alone with your Savior, in prayer, in home Bible reading and study. And don’t stop caring about, praying for, and keeping in touch with your brothers and sisters in Christ’s family.
Even when we can cannot gather publicly in God’s house, we do not want to stop worshiping, praying, serving the Lord or showing love to one another. If we can't be together in church on Sunday morning, you might consider watching a WELS worship service being live-streamed on your computer; there’s a list of churches that do live-streaming at the synod website: https://yearbook.wels.net/streaming, or you can find my sermon to read at paustian.org/sermon. Salem Lutheran in Escanaba, for one, is now live streaming their worship services at https://www.facebook.com/salemescanaba/live/. And on tv there’s Time of Grace (check your own service provider’s listings for time and channel).
If you make use of one of these video services, consider making it more than just a tv show that you’re watching, but actually use this time to worship. Prepare the same way you’d prepare for church, maybe even dress up a little and not just watch it in your pajamas, so it is time you are seriously and formally setting aside for God. Pull out a hymnal and sing along, if the service includes hymns. Sit your whole family together and allow no interruptions. Don’t just watch, worship.
The coronavirus has disrupted a lot of lives, and has been a source of worry and fear for many. We know and trust that the Lord is with us in all adversity and that he has a plan and a wise and gracious purpose, to work good for those who love God and are called according to his good pleasure.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD,
“plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future.
Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Jeremiah 29:11-13
When we are able to gather in person again, these are some of the things we will likely be doing to keep people safe.
1. Masks: The governor currently requires masks for any indoor gathering in public buildings. As an alternative to the cloth masks that make breathing uncomfortable for any extended length of time, we will provide clear plastic face shields that can be worn with or without a mask. They provide additional protection by shielding your eyes and by directing all the water vapor you exhale harmlessly down toward the floor. We will provide both masks and face shields to any who need them.
2. Social Distancing by families: If you live together you can sit together. If not, try to sit in different pews, at least 6 feet apart, every other pew if possible. I don’t know how many members will feel comfortable gathering for worship when we first resume. If the number is greater than what the church will hold with social distancing in place, we can add a second (or third) worship service later on Sunday and ask those who live close by to come back, and then start scheduling multiple services for the following Sundays. When we first decide on a Sunday to resume, I’ll probably ask you to contact me (call, text, email) if you’ll be there, so we don’t have to send people home, and we can maybe plan it out so that the most vulnerable members come to an earlier service.
3. Sanitizer: We will have sanitizer on hand. You might want to use it both on arrival and before you leave if you have touched anything.
4. Hymnals, bulletins, and printed sermons: The services will be up on the tv screen so that people don’t need to handle hymnals at all. That probably doesn’t matter if we only have one service a week and you sit in the same pew each time. But touching anything at all which the virus might have settled on just from other people breathing in the same church air might best be avoided. There will be bulletins and printed sermons that I will only have handled with freshly sanitized hands, and if you are going to pick one up, I’d suggest you sanitize first so you don't transfer the virus onto other people's bulletins. But you really don’t have to take a bulletin if you don’t need one.
5. Singing: Studies have shown that singing draws the virus up from deep in your lungs or shakes it loose from the mucous on your vocal cords, and releases it and spreads it farther than mere breathing or speaking would. If you’re wearing a mask and sing no louder than conversationally, it shouldn’t be a serious issue, but we will be limiting our singing during worship to just a few verses of each hymn, very little sung liturgy, and no choir. I had hoped to let the choir sing the Easter song they had been practicing before this all arose, but that wouldn’t be advisable.
6. Holy Communion will be offered the first Sunday we are back, regardless of what Sunday that might be. You've gone hungry long enough. I’ll wear a mask or face shield and use sanitizer immediately before the distribution. Do not kneel (so you don’t have to touch the railing), and do not stand next to someone unless they are from your household (it’s okay if that means only 2 or 3 will be coming forward at a time). I will drop the wafer into your hand, and you’ll pick up your own cup to minimize physical contact. I am going to suggest that we offer Communion every Sunday for the duration so that those of you who don’t feel comfortable gathering every Sunday will be able to receive it whenever you do come.
7. Offering: The offering plate will be in the entryway. There will be no collection during the service that might require multiple people handling the plate. An alternative would be to mail your offering to the church or send it by automatic bank transfer (It would save our financial secretary from having to handle all that virus-sprinkled cash). We can look into the possibility of online giving as well, but nothing is set up for that right now.
8. If you want to talk to other members after such a long time apart, hopefully the weather will be warm enough to do all our socializing outdoors, where open spaces and moving air make infection much less likely. Minimize the face-to-face close-up conversations you hold inside the church. Studies suggest that it would take ten minutes or more of speaking to someone before passing an infection becomes likely, so we don’t have to be afraid of a little chitchat, but even a single cough or sneeze could do it.
9. No Bible Class or Sunday School until Fall, at the earliest.
10. Lastly… we want you to be safe… not just safe… but to feel safe as you feel comfortable to return. Not everyone will feel comfortable coming back right away. That is OKAY… We are still here for you and want to serve and love you in any way we can. If you'd like me to visit to bring the Lord's Supper to you, or you'd like a weekly sermon mailed to you, please let me know. If you have further ideas, let us know. Thank you for your patience and understanding during this time.
And to reiterate some of what I said in previous coronavirus messages:
We’ll be back to handshakes and hugs and potlucks and unguarded fellowship time soon enough. In the meantime, don’t give up your time alone with your Savior, in prayer, in home Bible reading and study. And don’t stop caring about, praying for, and keeping in touch with your brothers and sisters in Christ’s family.
Even when we can cannot gather publicly in God’s house, we do not want to stop worshiping, praying, serving the Lord or showing love to one another. If we can't be together in church on Sunday morning, you might consider watching a WELS worship service being live-streamed on your computer; there’s a list of churches that do live-streaming at the synod website: https://yearbook.wels.net/streaming, or you can find my sermon to read at paustian.org/sermon. Salem Lutheran in Escanaba, for one, is now live streaming their worship services at https://www.facebook.com/salemescanaba/live/. And on tv there’s Time of Grace (check your own service provider’s listings for time and channel).
If you make use of one of these video services, consider making it more than just a tv show that you’re watching, but actually use this time to worship. Prepare the same way you’d prepare for church, maybe even dress up a little and not just watch it in your pajamas, so it is time you are seriously and formally setting aside for God. Pull out a hymnal and sing along, if the service includes hymns. Sit your whole family together and allow no interruptions. Don’t just watch, worship.
The coronavirus has disrupted a lot of lives, and has been a source of worry and fear for many. We know and trust that the Lord is with us in all adversity and that he has a plan and a wise and gracious purpose, to work good for those who love God and are called according to his good pleasure.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD,
“plans to prosper you and not to harm you,
plans to give you hope and a future.
Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Jeremiah 29:11-13
