January 12, 2022
Dear Friends,
Greetings to you all these most challenging days.
This prayer offered at the conference I just attended was so thoughtful it continues to be a part of my prayers: “O God, why is it that the things we love so much about worshipping you—being close to our sisters and brothers, singing with them, sharing your Table with them—are the very things that are now a threat for us to do.” This prayer put words to thoughts and feelings I had not yet articulated. Maybe it did this for you.
This past year some liturgy colleagues of mine gathered with some medical practitioners and researchers, under the guidance of the CDC, and released guidelines for worship in this ongoing season of COVID. It is entitled “Care-Filled Worship and Sacramental Life in a Lingering Pandemic” (https://drive.google.com/file/d/106hHOgM_7u6xFIPw1ExbBRB_r7jb2_Yf/view). It has been a helpful guide to our church’s negotiation of worshipping in person. To be fair, however, we have had a fairly generous reading of this document. It discourages congregational singing, for example. But in our case, given the size of our worship space, our number of worshippers, and our air circulation, we felt that we had reduced the risk enough to sing as a congregation. It is also suggested that for indoor worship the number of daily cases should be less than 10 for every 100,000 people. It was 5 on July 11 in metro Seattle when we gathered together for the first time, but did reach as high as 25 on September 2. Still, we felt we were being cautious enough at that time. You can find these statistics daily at ActNowCOVID.org.
More importantly, on December 20th we had 26 daily cases, on December 27 it had risen to 75, and by January 3 we had 115 cases. And yesterday we had 225 cases per 100,000 people, and we are uncertain when it will start to decline and how quickly. Given how fast this is spreading—including among those with vaccinations and boosters—our church is exercising caution. And I suggest we all do this same. In the nearly two years of this pandemic, we have seen nothing like this before. As much as we want to be in worship together, it is a threat to us right now. Let us all pray this season ends soon and we can safely return to worshipping together. May God grant us patience and understanding until that day comes.
Speaking of a day finally coming, we have finally established a new phone system for our church. Now calls will go directly to our cell phones wherever we are. Once this was established, I discovered a number of phone messages that had gone to Pastor Ellie’s old line that were intended for me. Apologies for not returning those calls! I think we have now worked out all the kinks, so please reach me at any time by calling the church and selecting my extension. Thank you for your patience in awaiting our getting this up and running.
On a final note, we have now fully entered the season of Epiphany, in which, through the gospel readings, we journey with Jesus in his ministry in Galilee to the Mount of Transfiguration. Typically, last Sunday (though for some churches this coming Sunday) is the last day the church colors are white, reverting to green until Transfiguration Sunday, the Sunday before Ash Wednesday. However, given these unprecedented circumstances, we will continue to use white, as a sign that, as we read last week in Isaiah, “For darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you.” (60:2) We will retain white as a sign we believe no darkness can diminish the light of hope in our God. May this promise and hope sustain us all in this very dark season.
Pastor Todd