May 30, 2021
Trinity Sunday
Beloved of the Lord,
Since last June we’ve been worshipping in-person with a variety of adaptations intended to mitigate the risks associated with COVID-19. You, as the Body of Christ, can be commended for your flexibility and courtesy in adjusting to worshiping with these adaptations. In recent days the CDC and the Ohio Department of Health have issued new guidelines and Governor DeWine has indicated that as of June 2, 2021, the health orders will be rescinded. These are indicators that the adaptations we have made are becoming no longer necessary as the rates of infection have gone down. Therefore, the Elders have adopted the following changes to our COVID guidelines as we begin to return to our customary ways of worship. These new guidelines will take effect on Sunday, June 6, 2021, and will be evaluated on an ongoing basis.
- Masks
- Masks will be entirely voluntary.
- Some may prefer to continue to wear a mask. Please respect their personal choice.
- Volunteers
- We will be rebuilding the volunteer rosters over the next month or so.
- The attendance slip has a “menu” of volunteer opportunities for you to pick from to indicate what you’d be available to help with.
- Entering Church: Sanitize your hands as you arrive, please.
- Bulletins: We will continue to use the bulletin format with the entire service printed in it. Hymnals will return to the pews if you prefer to use them for singing and liturgy.
- Seating During Worship: We will return to open seating. We understand that there are some who may want to still socially distance. We anticipate that by opening up the sanctuary to general seating that there will be sufficient space for everyone to have room to sit comfortably.
- Offerings: The offering plates won’t be passed and will remain at the table at the entrance. Feel free to continue to use automatic giving via your bank or our website.
- Leaving Church: We will return to an open dismissal of the congregation. The Ushers will not be dismissing rows. Feel free to exit your pew whenever you are ready.
- Communion Distribution: We will return to receiving communion at the altar rail in our previous pattern with a few adjustments:
- Procedure:
- Take your place at the communion rail filling from left to right (lectern to pulpit).
- After you receive the Body and Blood of Christ, you may exit the rail and return to your seat via the fellowship hall around to the back of the church.
- Individual cups can be placed in the basket by the pulpit on your way out the side door.
- Common Cup is available if you desire to receive communion this way. (If you have concerns about transmission of disease via the common cup, see Pastor as he can provide a variety of resources that have previously shown that the common cup is not a vector for infection.)
- Sanitation: even before COVID Pastor and the communion assistants were attentive to sanitizing their hands and, of course, this will continue. The communion rail will be wiped down between services as well.
- If—for any reason—you prefer to receive communion while remaining at your seat, please let an usher know as you arrive so that we can bring communion to you.
We pray that the Lord would continue to bring an end to the pandemic and that He would bless our return to many of our customary patterns of worship. In all things we ask that you be courteous and gracious with one another as everyone will be proceeding at their own pace. We will continue to be attentive to the unique needs of the congregation and recommendations from health officials.
In Christ,
The Board of Elders: Steve Kato, Rob Zacharias, Tim Wadle, Sam Jakabcic, and Jim Jackson
Dean Bremke, Chairman, Executive Board
Pastor Zielinski
