It’s Not That Easy
7 July 2021
Dear Friends,
We tried to book Kermit, but summer is his busiest time of year. Sorry, he was not available to record our new “progress” song, but here it is:
It’s not that easy being green:*
We celebrate not being red or yellow.
CDC once scared us painting some of those colors,
But we must guard against getting too mellow.
We’ll watch the numbers every week,
And pray to God our new cases stay down low.
But we will be ready to respond most quickly
If Delta Variant cases start to grow!
For a while now, Fayette County and Coweta County have been GREEN!! That’s what we’ve been waiting to see. Hopefully, you have noticed several changes around Christ Our Shepherd in response to the encouraging numbers of declining COVID cases. If you haven’t noticed, then please COME! Come to worship, to the office, or for no reason at all; just come!
We at Christ Our Shepherd want to WELCOME people to join us on the grace-packed path of Jesus’ joy and life! That’s been a little hard to do during the pandemic. NOT NOW! Bit by bit we are opening up, changing things up, looking up, and this “Moment with Miriam” is a step to catching you up on our progress (…get it? the “progress song?”)
Let’s catch everyone up and finish with some announcements about what’s coming up.
CATCHING UP
- A while back, the office opened resuming a more “regular” schedule of 10am-4pm, Tuesday to Thursday.”
- The communion-kit table is moved upstairs, since we no longer take temperatures or do other sign-in screening.
- If you are fully vaccinated, no mask is required. HOWEVER, we ask people to wear masks if not fully vaccinated, want to sing, or have another reason to wear one.
- In the Sanctuary, three sections of pews have social-distancing ropes taken down, but the north side of the room still has them for those who prefer to sit there.
- In the Contemporary service, chairs are set up in groups of 2’s, 3’s, or more, but families and friends can group the chairs to their preference.
- Paper copies of the Sanctuary Worship Guides are now available and hymnals and Bibles are returned to the pew racks.
- Fans are no longer brought out between the 8:30 and 11:00 services to forcefully (and noisily) exchange the air. We rely on open doors and air conditioning now.
- Furniture is showing up in spaces to make the entrances and hallways feel more welcoming.
COMING UP…to name a few.
- Wonderful news: soon it will be an option to come forward during Communion for those who wish!
- Plans are being made for choral and instrumental groups to resume providing music for worship in the Sanctuary.
- In August, Christ Our Shepherd welcomes back several groups, who, pre-pandemic, met here during the week.
In summary, we are moving in the direction of worshiping in “normal” circumstances. But we will be diligent in watching for spikes in cases. Should cases of illness shoot up, if we are moved to “yellow,” all the above relaxed procedures will come back. If we reach “red” (heaven forbid) we will shut down again. So, you can figure out what we hope one of your prayers will be!
The Lord goes with you always.
Peace to you all.
Pastor Miriam
*If you forgot how this famous Kermit song sounds, here’s a link:
