Friday Update

There is much concern in our society surrounding the Coronavirus and COVID19 sickness it can cause. We want you to know that as a staff your well-being is our top priority and therefore we are monitoring conditions daily and discussing appropriate responses. First and foremost, we encourage everyone to remain calm and consider carefully how we wish to address this together as Christ’s community in this place. We pray for God’s protection for those directly affected, and to guide us all in taking necessary precautions. Our precautions as a Church at this point will be as follows:

Saturday Prayer Shawl Gathering
The Prayer Shawl creation gathering originally scheduled for Saturday Morning is being postponed indefinitely.

Additional Cleaning Taking Place
We will be taking steps to clean and sanitize communal surfaces such as doors, bathrooms, and handrails more often throughout the week.

Coffee & Hospitality
Our volunteers and Staff have been conversing and we have decided that we will suspend our Coffee & Doughnut hospitality for the weekend so as to practice better "social distancing."

Greetings
As announced last week, we will not have our Greeters or Pastors shaking hands, nor will congregants shake hands during the Sharing of the Peace in worship. Even without shaking hands, we may be in contact with common surfaces and have made sanitizer available throughout the building.

Communion
We will still celebrate Holy Communion. Our individual serving Communion cups are washed and sanitized after each use at our traditional services. Communion servers will wash their hands before serving. If you are uncomfortable receiving communion, or using the intinction cup, it is acceptable to receive only one of the elements, trusting that Christ is fully present. It is also acceptable to not participate in communion.

Worship Alternatives
If you are not feeling well, or have a more fragile immune system, we advise you to just stay home. God understands, and so do we. We broadcast a radio message each Sunday morning at 8:30 a.m. on KMRY, 1450 AM or 93.1 FM. You can also watch a video of our sermon each Sunday afternoon on our homepage or youtube.com/firstlutherancr

Going Forward
Any additional updates will be communicated via email, our website and social media channels as needed. We will otherwise continue our ministry and event planning as normal, and there is a lot coming up, so please read on!