A Pastoral Word From Pastor Laurie Regarding In-Person Worship and SpringHouse Reopening

Dear Members and Friends of FCC,

On Wednesday the SpringHouse Reopening Committee met and had a conversation about our proposed reopening date for worship.  The SpringHouse Reopening Team is comprised of the pastors, Office Administrators, and representatives of our three churches: Salem Lutheran, Lyndale UCC, and FCC. Earlier in the summer we believed that October 10^th would be our reopening date. That would give everyone time to get vaccinated and for us to set up the technology upgrades that we need in each worship space.  We also believed that the rate of Covid 19 cases would drop significantly by then.

It is now the end of August and our youngest members do not have a vaccine that is available for them and Covid cases due to the Delta variant are on the rise for unvaccinated and vaccinated.  According to an article on CNN (cnn.com) on August 25^th in the United States there were more than 100,317 Covid-19 patients in hospitals.  That is “more than six times higher than the figure was roughly nine weeks ago, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services.” The numbers for this August are worse than the numbers for August 2020 when we did not have a vaccine.

The SpringHouse Reopening Committee is in agreement that with the rise in Covid 19 cases we cannot gather in-person at SpringHouse for worship on October 10^th.  While this was a difficult decision for us to make it was also an easy decision.  The difficult part is the sadness, grief, and weariness that we experienced in realizing that this pandemic is not over and that means that we cannot yet gather in-person.  The easy part is that we love our members and friends, and we know that we are doing all that we humanly can to keep everyone healthy and safe.

With the rise in Covid cases our worship team has again started wearing masks in our worship space even though we are all fully vaccinated.  We are also watching our physical distance from each other.  We are doing everything we can to keep each other healthy and we want to keep the people with whom we interact outside of church healthy too.

As your pastor, I ask that you continue to support FCC and join us for worship online.  We are grateful that we have not gathered back in person only to have to shift back to totally online.  We have continued to be church since we moved to online only worship in March 2020 and we have learned how to worship and have fun together in new and marvelous ways.

Throughout the past 18-19 months we have continued to do Outreach, offer pastoral care in a variety of ways, worship in new and innovative ways and just be church! We have ways for us to connect beyond worship such as virtual Coffee Hour and Happy Hour.  Last year we had a great time having game nights, a talent show, and creating our own State Fair.  Now that we know we are in this for a little longer we will have another virtual Halloween Party.  Last year’s virtual party was so much fun!

Take time to join me in grieving that we will not be together for worship at SpringHouse on October 10^th.  We deserve a moment of lament and tears. Believe me I have shed many tears over this. Then join me in celebrating that we have made it this far being church in a virtual way. We know we can do this as long as it takes to keep everyone we know and love healthy and safe! Who knows maybe we will celebrate in-person around Thanksgiving? Whenever the day comes for gathering in-person it will be a day filled with joy! In the meantime, get vaccinated and please wear a mask!

Much love, peace and virtual hugs,

Pastor Laurie