Being Community in Trying Times… A Message from Pastor Tom

Dear Friends,

In the past two weeks, I am assuming you have received the same number of emails from a variety of areas of your life. Each of these emails wants to inform us that – as organizations, businesses, clubs, etc – the senders are doing everything they can to prepare for the arrival of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). Mount Calvary Lutheran Church’s staff – in communication with the church council – is also making its own plan for helping navigate our life together.

First thing is first, we have and will be monitoring the recommendations of the Minnesota Department of Health and the Minnesota Department of Education. At this time, they have not yet recommended the suspension of gatherings of people. Please be aware that when the time comes, Mount Calvary will suspend worship, Wednesday Night Meals, and all programs of the church to allow for the quarantine of the virus. We will inform you of such a decision via email, text message, the church website, and social media accounts.

With all of this noted, I also want to remind you that our primary concern is for the care of this community and the larger community surrounding us. We expect worship attendance to be in decline as our collective attention to this crisis leads us to make different decisions about where we choose to gather. Please know that we understand if you are choosing to avoid crowds at this point. We also want to remind everyone to stay home when they are sick or have been in the presence of others with confirmed illnesses.

At this time, we will be foregoing greeters on Sunday morning and the Sharing of the Peace will be without physical contact. With communion, we will only be offering bread. We will put out a wine chalice for those who choose intinction. Please note, we will discontinue this practice when advised by public health officials. We will not be having communion servers and the wine will be your choice – though discouraged.

One of my consistent messages over the last seven years with you has been the value of community. When I read the statistics on COVID-19, I grow concerned for the health and welfare of you as a people. The decisions we are making are our best efforts to consider the well-being of everyone here. I love you as a people and we will do our best to stay as healthy as we can.

Finally, I am asking that you pray for and support one another in these anxious times. We believe in a God that comes to us in our times of struggle and sustains us. We believe in hope. We believe in love.  We believe in life.

Yours in Christ,

Tom