UPDATE ON COVID-19 PRECAUTIONS
As I look again over this final 12 months, I’m so grateful for the way you, our church, have come collectively and continued to worship, serve, and be on mission for Jesus within the midst of this pandemic. We’ve needed to make changes, take care of rather a lot of uncertainty, get used to digital choices we’d in any other case have by no means thought of, and wrestle to navigate choices on the premise of continuously altering data. Many of us have approached this pandemic in a different way, with completely different opinions of the perfect methods to dwell throughout this time, and but we’ve been in a position to come collectively earlier than Jesus Christ and dwell as his church, for him. God in his grace has continued to guard, bless, and information. Reward the Lord!
A big half of coming again collectively has been our social-distancing practices. Life in every single place has modified as we’ve got adjusted to sporting masks, holding again on handshakes and hugs, and attempting to mentally image what standing six toes away from somebody seems like, and church has been no exception. One of the issues I’ve been most grateful to God for over the previous 12 months is that with every little thing we’ve got been in a position to do, we’ve got had no outbreaks of the coronavirus. I do know this has inspired us to maintain working towards this stuff, as there was no want to vary what has been working.
Nonetheless, we’re coming into a brand new part of the pandemic. Whereas the pandemic just isn’t over, all individuals over 16 at the moment are in a position to get vaccines if they need them, and lots of members of our church and neighborhood at the moment are totally vaccinated. As a result of of how properly vaccines are defending individuals from the virus, this previous Monday Governor DeSantis signed an order suspending all Covid-19 ordinances throughout the state. Leon County launched an announcement later that day saying that masks ordinances are not in impact. This comes after a launch final week from Florida’s Division of Well being stating that totally vaccinated people not have to be suggested to put on face coverings or keep away from gatherings.
In mild of all of this, we’re concentrating on Sunday, Could 30, because the day we’ll totally loosen up our social-distancing practices. This can embody eradicating the ropes from each different pew, starting espresso service once more, and solely encouraging masks as elective for many who wish to put on them. The rationale we’re asking everybody to carry on just a bit longer with these practices over the subsequent few weeks is for the profit of these in our church beneath fifty years of age who haven’t but had the chance to be totally vaccinated, as a result of vaccines didn’t divulge heart’s contents to this half of the inhabitants till April. By the tip of Could, all adults who’ve needed to get the vaccine can have been ready to take action.
I notice that all of us have completely different consolation ranges with persevering with or discontinuing some of these practices, and that some of us will select to get the vaccine whereas some of us won’t, and that some of us will select to maintain sporting masks whereas others won’t. Little question, some of us rejoiced within the Governor’s government order whereas some of us disagreed with it. Reward God our unity in Christ transcends these variations, and that grace abounds in our life collectively after we stroll within the Holy Spirit. I stay up for worshipping with you all this Sunday as we have a good time Mom’s Day with guardian-youngster dedications in each of our companies.
“Now to Him who is ready to do way more abundantly past all that we ask or suppose, in response to the facility that works inside us, to Him be the glory within the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations ceaselessly and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)
God bless,
