Pastor’s Corner
“I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world. For God, whom I serve with my spirit by announcing the gospel of his Son, is my witness that without ceasing I remember you always in my prayers, asking that by God’s will I may somehow at last succeed in coming to you. For I am longing to see you so that I may share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— or rather so that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.” Romans 1:8-12
Governor Hogan has allowed churches to reopen. President Trump announced on Friday, May 22 that churches are essential and therefore should be opened. Some local churches have already held Sunday services. So we are all asking, “When can Trinity reopen?” On Thursday evening, May 21, Kim Nally (our congregational president), Jeff Grills (vice president), Susan Layos (Trinity’s parish nurse) and I met by Zoom to seriously consider that question.
Our first concern was in regards to the safety of our people. By this time in the pandemic, we miss each other deeply – probably just as much as St. Paul missed his friends in that Bible passage from Romans. But we know some things about this disease. We know that a great percentage of our membership would be considered in the high-risk category (over age 60).
Singing in church is not going to happen in the foreseeable future. There is concern at this time that singing at a much greater degree than talking can spread the virus more easily. This much is known about Coronavirus: Infection usually happens indoors, with people closely-spaced, with lots of talking or singing.
Our second concern was the quality of worship at this time in the pandemic. What would church look like if we spaced ourselves 7 feet apart in the pews as Governor Hogan recommends? We would have a congregation of two to two and a half dozen people in worship. What would church sound like if we have no choir and we sing no hymns? What would that feel like? Church would not feel at all like the church we all know and long for.
We compared what church would feel like under such circumstances to what church feels like for us now as we worship digitally. Of course digital worship has limitations. It is not as good as being together in person. But at the moment, it is a very safe alternative to the risks of face to face worship. And given the fact that every digital worship service of Trinity includes music recorded by our own Contemporary Choir or other high quality sacred hymnody, it certainly has been a worshipful and dignified substitute.
We do, however, recognize that it is a substitute at best to face to face worship. We will certainly monitor other congregations as they return to their buildings. We promise you that we will study any and all CDC recommendations and guidelines. Susan, our parish nurse, will even be attending conferences in the near future that deal precisely with the topic of church reopening. When we feel it is safe to reopen the church, we promise to do so.
For now, we believe the safest policy for Trinity is to stay as we are. So far no one from Trinity has become ill with Coronavirus. We hope and pray to keep it that way.
– Pastor Ron
