September 2, 2020
Leadership Notes
Summer is back…with a vengeance. My wife cautions me about being so surly when it gets hotter and humidder, because the weather is out of our control. I know that intellectually, but spiritually I'm ready for summer to be over. "Go to bed, summer, you have been out of control!"
One of the things we've been carefully attempting to control is our return to in-person worship here at Covenant Church. We have not had a single case of Covid-19 directly related to Sunday morning worship. That is great news. We will continue to encourage folks to wear masks before and after worship. Some are even choosing to do so in the sanctuary, during worship. We will do our best to remain reasonable, rational, and responsible in the weeks and months ahead.
For me, if you took the two sides of a spectrum, the spectrum being where people are at in relation to attitudes/opinions about Covid-19, I'm somewhere in the middle. The middle being halfway between two opposing opinions:
1. Covid-19 is like a death sentence/health apocalypse/shut everything down;
2. Covid-19 is like any other flu virus/being used for political gain/just as hyped as Y2K was 20 years ago.
I'm somewhere between those two. I miss our personal connections on Sunday morning. I miss meeting with people. I miss shut-in communion. I could go on. Bottom line, 2020 might bring a weird Advent season. I hope not. As we look forward to fall, I encourage you to cautiously and carefully consider how you will worship moving forward.
To that end, through the end of September, worship will continue at 10:00 a.m. As variables change and self-adjust, toward the end of this month we will have a clearer understanding of what October holds. At this point, it could quite possible be Sunday School {for all ages} from 9:00 - 9:45 a.m. with worship remaining at 10:00. That's one of the options. The other is 9:30 - 10:15 education hour with worship at 10:30. All I care about is safely gathering together as the Bible calls us to do. I am working on my patience. Regardless of where you're at in approaching these unfolding events, I know you want to be patient, too. It's always a good thing when we're patient together.
Side note - I have read articles, stories, and social media posts where members of churches are not happy that their churches aren't open, while others in their community are. I hope and pray we never have to close again.
Finally, I was reading an article about reasons why many pastors have become discouraged during this pandemic. One struck me as positively, absolutely not applying to Covenant Church:
#5: Criticisms against pastors have increased significantly.
That fact alone is reason #1 why it is such a joy and privilege to be a part of this community of faith!
Closing Thought for the Week:
To guard our hearts against ethnic idolatry and pride, we need only remind ourselves that we had absolutely nothing to do with the ethnicity we possess…nothing. All that you and I are is by God's providential will, therefore, we have nothing of which we can boast…nothing at all.
- Darrell B. Harrison
Editor's Note: "Humidder" was used ironically.