Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ!
Ever since I can remember I have gone on road trips with my family. As a kid, I was the one in the backseat asking the question, “are we there yet?” I couldn’t wait to get where we were going and to see what we were going to see.
Now, as an adult, I have changed seats. Most of the time, I’m driving or at least in the front seat. Still, I find my excitement continues to fuel my question, “are we there yet?” Instead of pestering my father for the answer, I bug the GPS for an estimated time of arrival.
At the end of the fifth week of Easter, I am looking forward to the next phase of our Regathering Plan. Are we there yet? When can we come together in the sanctuary for worship? When will we open additional meeting spaces for groups to use throughout the week? In short, when we will be able to safely move to Phase 3b?
Soon. We are almost there!
The countdown to Phase 3b started a week ago since the new cases per 100,000, infection rate, and positivity test rate, moved into the safety zone for Phase 3b. With improved and decreased metrics in Dakota and Scott counties , we are able to make progress in our quest to regather fully. For a detailed description of the next phase (click here). If the numbers continue to behave, then we will enter Phase 3b on next Tuesday, May 11. As soon as we get there, we will let you know (by email and snail mail). The current phase can also be seen at the banner on our websites’ home page.
One of the biggest changes will be replacing our Fellowship Hall Hybrid worship with a spoken Sermon/Sacrament worship in the sanctuary. If we move to Phase 3b next week, the return to sanctuary in-person worship will begin on June 6. The three week delay is due to previously scheduled Confirmation worship (video recording on May 16 and livestreaming on May 23) and Memorial Day weekend. For staffing and scheduling reasons it wasn’t feasible for making the shift in May.
In Phase 3b we will continue to offer our Drive-In communion at 8:00 a.m., Livestream online at 9:30 a.m., and Zoom Online/Phone Communion (at a new time - 12:30 a.m.). The new sanctuary worship will be at 11:30 a.m.
Are we there yet? I can’t wait to preside over eucharist again in the sanctuary! I am also excited about continuing to worship in our other innovative ways.
Almost there, almost there…
In the meanwhile, I look forward to waving to you in worship this Sunday, May 9 either in-person (Drive-In Communion, 8:00 a.m.; Hybrid in Fellowship Hall, 9:30 a.m.) or online (Livestream 9:30 a.m. or Zoom at noon).
In Christ’s Light,
Pastor Walt