Coronavirus Recommendation October 7 2020 from Mid-Atlantic District Leadership Team and District Executive Minister Gene Hagenberger
Recommendation about Opening Churches
We’re seven months into coronavirus time. Our initial shutdown was March 15. COVID-19 is no less a threat to public health than it was seven months ago. What has changed is that we have developed serious fatigue about doing what we’ve been doing to save lives.
Meeting “online” for worship and church meetings continues to be the best practice for caring for each other’s health. If you decide to or are meeting in the building it is vital that you conscientiously follow the CDC’s Pandemic Guidance for Religious Worship, and you need to have a plan in place that will be followed for what you will do if someone intentionally or unintentionally fails to follow “the rules.”
This Advent and Christmas will be an opportunity for understanding more fully what it was like for Mary and Joseph to spend Jesus’ birthday away from family and friends and the comforts of their usual routines, a season when we can ‘ponder in our hearts’ without all of the distractions of a typically hectic holiday season, which could be a spiritual blessing.