September Update From Church Council President
Dear Members of Zion,
On Wednesday, August 11, the church council discussed at length the alarming numbers and statistics related to the new Delta Variant of the Corona Virus, which I’m sure you have been reading and hearing about.
The rising rate of positive cases has caused great concern and pres-sure on our hospital systems to even provide basic care for non-covid cases, much less the specialized care for covid related cases.
It is most unfortunate that this current spike of the highly contagious virus comes at a time when we, as a congregation, were making progress in the reopening process of our worship experience. But, we must remember, that as a faithful body of souls, we are not the one in charge, and we must have faith that God will lead us through this situation.
While the council decided that we definitely want and need to keep our worship experience available in an in-person format, the following steps will begin immediately:
MASKS – The wearing of masks will be strongly recommended at all times when in the sanctuary.
SEATING – All attendees will be ushered to appropriate seating, beginning at the front of the sanctuary and working back to the rear. Seating will be on every other row to accomplish safe spacing. Please remain in your pew after you have been seated. All attendees will be ushered out of the sanctuary following the service.
VISITING – All attendees are asked not to congregate or visit in the narthex and sanctuary before or after the service. Please restrict your visit-ing and fellowship to outside of the church building.
COMMUNION – Be aware to follow the instructions of the ushers during Communion. They have been asked to monitor the distancing between individuals during the distribution of Communion.
FACILITY USAGE – All committee chairpersons and group leaders are asked to evaluate the necessity of meeting in person until such time as the covid pandemic is alleviated. The church council sincerely thanks you for your continued support and cooperation through this most trying time. It is only by following these protocols that we will be able to continue to worship in person in the fore-seeable future. We hope and pray that these requirements are short-lived and that we’ll soon be able to go back to our “normal” way of worship.
Thank you, Robert Menking, President