Perhaps you are a
follower of Jesus who attended church in person or on-line these days. Perhaps
you, like me, have been perplexed at churches who make little to no mention of
the congregation’s stance on COVID, safety, and fellowship in the Lord.
So, with that in mind, I offer my own Model Announcement.
For us as a body of believers, it is important to orient ourselves toward the sacred texts for work and worship. We do so now, and in a few short words, our task is to love one another for love is of God for God is love. By this the world will know that we are disciples because we love one another.
We live in a specific state, county, and community. If someone is watching on-line this morning, the numbers will perhaps vary with where you are.
While there are a number of reputable web sites to go to for information, we encourage you to go to the Center for Disease Control’s web page: https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/?utm_term=The%20Atlantic%20Daily#datatracker-home.
In this web page, you can discover national trends and data as well as on down to your county.
Here where we live, once you get to the link above, type in your state, and ours is ________. Next, type in your county. Our county is _____________.
The percentage of citizens 12 years of age and up who have received at least one shot is _____ and the percentage of those who have received both shots is ___________.
There you will see that our county transmission rate is ____________.
Over the last seven days, we have seen an increase of ___________. The current number of infected persons is _____________.
Our positivity rate is _____________ and that is an increase/decrease of ____________.
Our new hospitalization rate is _________ and that is an increase/decrease of ________.
The number of beds used for COVID in our hospitals is __________ and is an increase/decrease of _______________.
More information is found there.
What do all of those numbers mean? The short verse is that things are getting worse, things will not get any better soon, and that we can mitigate these matters by doing the basics that show that we love one another. We are not as a leadership body choosing politics over people. We are choosing people and doing our best to discern what is good for this group of people and our community.
While we know there are a number of perspectives and opinions on these complicated matters, our collective wisdom, as we live before the Lord Almighty, the Holy One of Israel, is the following: 1) get the vaccine as soon as possible, and if you have had the first two shots, please anticipate getting the booster shot as soon as you can; 2) wear your mask, especially in enclosed spaces like our sanctuary, classrooms, and the gymnasium here on the church property, and do the same in other locales where you find yourself, even if you are vaccinated; 3) practice social distancing; 4) avoid crowded spaces as often as possible; 5) congregate as you wish if you are vaccinated, but we encourage your own wisdom in being with people who have not been similarly vaccinated; and 6) wash your hands often and keep any frequently used surfaces clean.
Here in the United States we prize our individual rights. As a citizen of the Kingdom, we place community rights and obligations alongside those.
We honor and respect those with whom we are in community, the community of faith and the community of all of us as citizens of this country and the world.
With the beauty of citizenship also come the responsibilities to take care of one another. The life you may save may be your own, or it may be someone you love.
Here at this church, we are concerned about your soul. We are also concerned about the physical body within which your soul exists."
