Not Neglecting to Meet Together

Dear Emmanuel Family,

This morning I have been thinking about the phrase, “The New Normal.” If the truth be told, it’s a euphemism we use when we are experiencing some kind of loss: The unknowns ahead that are being faced by someone who has just begun her cancer treatment, or the grief one is experiencing in the wake of the death of a loved one, or the dread one feels when he finds out he has lost his job, or the emptiness we know when we’ve been abandoned by someone who we once called friend, are all times when I have heard people speaking about their “new normal.”  

Yet here’s the thing: we experience these new normals as being entirely abnormal.  They are a sudden dislocation from what we had come to know as normal.  It’s not normal at all; and it may not ever feel normal.  But it is real and it needs to be dealt with in ways more meaningful than pronouncing it normal or worse yet, good. You know: “The dog died last week, my neighbor is filing a law suit against us, our son and his wife are divorcing, and on top of all of this I just lost my job, but . . . it’s all good.” 

No!  It’s not “all good” and it’s far from normal.  

While the ever deepening isolation we are being called to as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic may be a reality we need to accept, it is not a normal to which I want to accommodate.  I hope we are able to reconnect in person soon.  But until that green light is given, we are working at finding ways to both join with the fight in preventing the transmission of this disease by keeping our distance from one another, and at the same time adopting new ways of staying in touch. 

We’re well on the way with our new worship format.  Over 70 virtual sanctuaries came together in the same place to worship this past week, and in many of those “sanctuaries” there were gatherings of more than one person using the same computer or tablet or phone.  On Monday night our session used the Zoom platform for its monthly meeting.  We could even break up into three groups in virtual break out rooms so that each of our session commissions could discuss their particular issues.  So we are not neglecting to meet together, but we can get better at this and there are additional ways we can connect using Zoom.

What if we were to form groups of folks during the week to encourage one another through scripture, prayer and fellowship?  It’s not difficult and it’s free on Zoom as long as you keep your meeting to 40 minutes.  If you are interested in pulling together a group or being a part of a group that meets in this way on Zoom, shoot me an email (daver@epcbothell.org).  I’d be glad to train folks to use Zoom and also prepare a weekly devotional for you to use as a group.  The material I prepare will probably make use of the Psalms and be concise enough to both fit within the Zoom time limit of 40 minutes and allow for the needed time of informal conversation these groups would require.  Of course you don’t need me to make this happen, but I want you to know that I am available and will help to “grease the skids” to get this going.

What is normal to me is being a pastor.  I want to keep at that calling in whatever ways I can during this abnormal time.  The tools I need to use to do this work right now are not normal.  So bear with me, work with me, let me know what’s on your mind and let’s together find ways to meet together and encourage one another.

Dave

3/25/2020  

Thoughts before our next worship gathering (via Zoom)

Dear Emmanuel Family,

A week of not having worship in the sanctuary on Sunday and not going into the office at the church has me thinking about all the things I took for granted about my job as your pastor.  Before the sequestering experience caused by the virus I could make an assumption that I was going to see most of you on Sundays.  And if I didn’t see people in worship I could make a mental list of those whom I needed to check in with. I had a certain rhythm in the way I organized my week and each day had its list of tasks.  I could talk with Sue Hendrix or Marin Kaetzel or Sharon Concha by simply getting up and walking to my office door or making a trip down the hall.  My commute home from the church in the afternoons gave me a built in buffer between work time and home time.    

All of these things have gone away.  Their loss means that I am now thinking about new ways to stay in touch with you, administer the workings of the congregation and lead us in worship.  Like it or not, my cell phone and the Zoom video conferencing platform have become my primary tools.  They are a distant second to the joy of personal contact, but they are what I have and I am glad I have them.  

We’ll have our second worship gathering on Zoom on March 22nd at 10am.  We’ve spent a good bit of time this week trying to address the glitches of last Sunday.  There will be some new things we’re doing and I’ll be interested in your thoughts about our gatherings so that we can continue to improve what we are doing.  I’ll be sending you the link to the meeting in an email tomorrow.  All you need to do is to click on that link and it will take you directly to the meeting.  If you have never used Zoom before it will take a little extra time to download the application.  

I also want you to know that even though I am not in my office and not booking lunches or making pastoral calls to people’s homes I am available to engage with you as your pastor.  We can easily schedule a phone call or a face to face meeting on Zoom or on Face time.  Just send me an email (daver@epcbothell.org) or give me a call or send me a text on my mobile phone 206-715-3007, and we can set up an appointment to get together.  

My hope is to write regularly about what God is teaching me in this time.  I’ll send you those reflections via email and post them on our website on the “Coming together while we’re staying apart” page (https://www.epcbothell.org/covid19).   You can reply to those posts either by replying to the email or leaving your comments on the website and I will respond to those emails and comments.

Finally, I need to continue to ask for your help in staying in touch with the people of our congregation who will neither have access to this message nor the ability to view our worship gatherings because they either have no computer or limited connectivity to online resources.  If you know of someone in that category please tell me and we will make sure that they are receiving a regular phone call from someone in the congregation.  Thanks for your help.    

Dave

Worship Service on Sunday, March 15th

Dear Emmanuel Family,

As you know the Session at Emmanuel has been engaging in discussions about our communal response to the spread of the Covid-19 virus.  Given both Governor Jay Inslee’s orders to close schools through April 24th and to cancel gatherings over 250 people and the guidelines issued by King County Public Health regarding safeguards that need to be in place for gatherings under 250, the Session at Emmanuel has decided we will not have a worship service in our sanctuary this Sunday, March 15th.  

We will however, offer our church family an opportunity to be a part of an online video conference via a platform called Zoom.  If you would like to be a part of that gathering you will need to have a computer, phone or tablet that has a camera and a microphone.  At 10:00 am on Sunday, March 15 access this message (or an email that you may have received with this same information) and click on this link: https://zoom.us/j/489844680.

Once you click on the link you will be given a series of prompts that will connect you with our meeting.  Initially your microphone will be turned off, but you should be able to hear me and when it comes time for prayer I will be able to activate the microphones of those who wish to offer a prayer request or share a word or gratitude or praise.

This is, in my mind, a feeble replacement for in-person worship.  Yet given that we had less than 50% of our normal worship attendance last Sunday, it is clear that many of you think it is prudent not to attend public gatherings at this time.  Thank you for your patience and perseverance.  Thank you for loving your neighbor by becoming a part of helping to contain the spread of this viral infection. 

Yet it must be said that these actions bring with them the unfortunate experience of isolation. In a congregation like ours where the majority of our members are over the age of 60, worship and fellowship over the internet will probably not be sustainable because it will not be something that sustains. I know that many people in our congregation will not even receive this email, and many who do will not have the means of connecting to our meeting this Sunday on Zoom.  So we need to work at staying in touch with one another and so mitigate the isolating effects of this pandemic.  

In light of this, here are some of the things we are doing or thinking about doing in the near future.  Already there is a team of folks who are working at calling people in the congregation who have not been in worship over the past few weeks, and they are now looking for help to expand the call list to include the whole congregation.  If you are interested in being a part of this team to help out with making these calls, please email me (daver@epcbothell.org) and I will put you in touch with the people who are organizing this.  Second, I am exploring ways that small groups of folks can meet outdoors on a variety of days and times for shorter services of worship, communion and fellowship.  These meetings would be in compliance with the King County Health Department guidelines for small meetings.   Stay tuned for more information about these gatherings.

I will stay in regular touch via these emails, but I continue to ask your help in spreading the word to those people in the congregation who are not in this communication loop.  Thank you for continuing to care for one another and to look for ways that we can love our neighbors in this challenging time.

Dave

Important Message Regarding Worship

Dear Emmanuel Family,

The events of this past week have delivered us to a place of deepening concern over the spread of the novel Corona virus, COVID-19.  Many congregations in our area are choosing not to meet for worship tomorrow. However, as I have been in discussion with our Session over the last three days, the discernment of the majority of the Elders is that we should offer a public worship service on Sunday March 8th at our normal time of 10am.  So as of this writing (at 8:00am on Saturday, March 7th), I can tell you our doors will be open for worship.  

As we gather it is important to restate a few things. People need to exercise their own judgement about whether or not they think being in worship is a good idea for them.  If you have a health condition that makes you more susceptible to contracting this virus you are advised to stay at home.  If you are showing any symptoms of cold or flu please stay away from public spaces where you could inadvertently share your illness with others. Wash your hands regularly and avoid touching your face.  And if you are out in public it is best to keep a safe distance from others and not shake hands or hug.   

Here are a few things to be aware of in the coming weeks. As this public health concern continues to unfold we at Emmanuel will be doing the following things:

• While we are holding worship this Sunday, March 8th, we may be asked to refrain from holding public gatherings or find it necessary in coming weeks to stop offering public worship. So until the crisis is abated, the Session and I will be in communication each week to determine whether or not worship will happen.

• We will offer neither beverages nor food after the service. We will not pass offering plates or attendance pads.  And we will ask folks to offer peace and greeting to one another by some means other than the physical contact of handshakes and hugs.  Greeting one another with the “holy kiss” described in the Bible is probably not a good idea. 

• I have given the staff the option of not being present on Sundays if they choose. Volunteers in children’s ministry have the same option. This may mean we are singing a'capella during worship or that we have no children's programming during the morning worship hour or that we have no sound and recording support for worship.

The bottom line as we engage all of this is that before, during and after this crisis there is a constant that brings us confidence, Jesus is Lord.  Nothing we do or don’t do will shake this rock solid foundation. So let’s rest in this certainty and allow God’s peace to displace the anxieties that this virus might cause.  

God’s Grace and Peace to You,

Dave