Happy New Year all!  We don’t seem to be off to a very happy start, but we can still choose to rejoice.  I’ve already let everyone know that we’re going virtual for the next couple of weeks because several of us are sick, but in light of the current concern that requires at least some explanation.

I don’t think it’s appropriate to spell out everything here, but members will be able to discern the situation from what I am saying.  On Thursday I became convinced that the symptoms I was feeling indicated something more than a cold or allergy.  I immediately called Cathy to see if we could arrange to have a service without me, but then learned that one of the people I rode home with was also sick.  At that point it seemed safest to go back to a virtual venue.  Two of the  six people who were in that vehicle have tested positive for Covid-19 and I am almost certainly the third.  If you need more detail, you may contact one of us directly.

Regulars should have received a text from me with the dial-in number for the conference line that we used last year.  For security reasons we do not publish it, but you can contact me directly or leave a message if you don’t have it and would like to join us.

I do have a message in mind, but don’t think I have the energy to prepare and deliver it for tomorrow, so we will probably just have a time of fellowship and prayer.  We’ll try to answer any questions you may have, and I want to discuss different ways we might hold our virtual services.  The phone line by itself has the advantage of simplicity but also limits what we can see and do.  The two weeks I mentioned above is likely to become at least one more.

Now I’ll address the elephant in the room.  Did we make a mistake by meeting?  I say we did not.  We decided as a church to set aside fear and come together as the Lord would have us do.  We knew there was risk, and we took steps to mitigate it.  I trust that we will meet again soon, but with several of us now needing to quarantine and still others sick with non-covid related ailments, there just aren’t many left to come and hold a service.

Last year when we were meeting on the phone, we talked about making better use of virtual tools to extend our reach but didn’t really explore that after we began meeting again.  So we are given another opportunity, but I can tell you I’ll need help if we are to make progress.  It will have to be a church-wide effort.  Once the threat of Covid-19  has lifted it will involve turning as many of those virtual connections as we can into physical connections.  We were made for community.  These screens are a wonderful blessing during this time, but they cannot substitute for real human contact.

I love you all.  Be strong and courageous!

Larry