Test Driving Theology

Dear friends,

On Sunday, Trinity’s congregational council made the decision to carefully re-start indoor worship in the sanctuary.  This will begin Sunday, October 18 and will take place only during the 10:45am worship hour. We are excited for the opportunity to worship together again!  Believe me when I tell you that no one has missed worshipping together more than your pastors!

As we do this, it is important that we do it safely, and well.  So, while we will regather, there will be some limitations as to how this happens:

• You are welcome to come and worship at the 10:45am worship service.  Our hope is to take small steps into gathering again, so at this time we are not restarting the Saturday 5pm or the Sunday 8:15am services.

• We will continue to livestream the 9:30am worship service with only the pastors and musicians present.   

• If you or someone in your family is not feeling well, is exhibiting symptoms or is in an especially vulnerable population, we’d ask that you stay home and worship online at 9:30am.
• All who attend worship will be asked to wear masks in the building.

• We will spread ourselves out to maintain social distancing.  The ushers will seat all worshippers in appropriate spots throughout the sanctuary.

• We will not exceed the Governor’s maximum number of people who gather for worship.  The guidelines are for maintaining social distancing for a number up to 50% of the sanctuary capacity.  We are working now to determine that number.

• Because the virus is spread through the air, we will not do congregational singing during the 10:45am worship.  We will have soloists singing from the balcony.  (Note: We will continue singing at the 9:30am live-streamed service).

• All who attend worship will be asked to sanitize their ands, and to sign in as they enter the sanctuary, with phone and e-mail, to facilitate contact tracing, should that be required.

• We will continue to offer face-to-face worship if the number of COVID cases in our county remains below 30 per 10,000 over a two week period.  This is the same scale the school district is using to decide if classes are face to face, hybrid or online.  If we exceed 30 per 10,000, we will need to step away from face-to-face worship until the numbers are reduced.

We will celebrate Holy Communion together every week.  We will do it in the same way we have done at our outdoor worship services.  People will pick up pre-packaged communion cups as they enter the service and will be instructed when and how to open them at the appropriate time.  

While we would love to return to our full, normal schedule, we recognize that this plan allows us to step forward carefully.  Our goal is to protect our people, especially those who are the most vulnerable.  And we believe that the steps we have taken during the pandemic show the greatest love towards God and each other.  It hasn’t been easy, and there is much that we have missed.  But God’s call towards sacrificial love moved us to be careful for the sake of the vulnerable.

 And now we feel confident that we can move forward, restarting worship indoors, in a way that continues to show that love and allows God’s people to gather again.

In the meantime, don’t forget that we are hosting outdoor worship face-to-face on September 27 and October 11, both at 10:45am.

We look forward to seeing you in worship!

God’s blessings!
Pastor Todd