Hey ‘Threads”,
Just trying to keep you updated on Tapestry and COVID-19. We will attempt to keep everyone informed through the church website (sptapestry.org) and Facebook page (facebook.com/sptapestry/). Here is the current information:
1. Remember the hope you have in Christ. While we need to be smart, we do not have to live in fear because we have hope in Christ. Therefore, we need to live in and demonstrate that hope, while we also should take normal safety precautions.
2. Take precautions.
- Wash your hands for 20 seconds frequently
- Avoid touching your face.
- As much as I hate to say it, avoid shaking hands and hugging. Show your love for one another in non-touching manners.
- If you are sick or have symptoms please don’t come to church, but do please let someone on the Leadership Team know (Cory, Ellyn, Pete, and Robert) so that we can be there for you. You will be missed at church, but the most loving thing you can do is to not come to church if you are sick.
- Avoid large gatherings of people in close proximity – right now the state recommendation is to avoid gatherings of 250 people or more, so this does not mean canceling our weekly gathering as of yet.
3. At this time we are still doing our regular meetings. If that changes we will notify everyone through the church webpage and Facebook page. If we have to cancel our normal weekly gatherings we will make other arrangements to keep each other focused on Christ, encouraged, and safe.
4. Check-in with someone – call them, message them, email them, etc. Loneliness is a real problem in our world and the coronavirus is going to glaringly reveal this already present problem. So be the bride of Christ and reach into each other’s loneliness and remind one another of the triune God, the God Who reveals Himself in relationship. Do this for others outside the church too.
5. PRAY – This is actually what I would like to recommend first, but I am placing it last because of the tendency to over-spiritualize things to the point that praying to our Holy God doesn’t change our daily actions and keeps us from making preparations. The theologian Karl Barth said about prayer that “To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world.” When we pray to our mighty God He changes things and that usually begins with us. In this situation I believe praying to God will keep us from giving in to the destructive behavior that often comes out of fear.
As a church, we will be sanitizing more than we normally do – wiping down often touched surfaces and following the CDC faith community recommendations (found HERE). If you would like to help sanitize Sunday morning we would love your help.
Otherwise, glorify God by being the awesome group of people you are and I’ll let you know if things change within Tapestry.
In His love and Mine,
Robert