Back to Worship: Confessions of a Work Group Chair

I’ll admit it. I felt marginally better when I heard that Major League Baseball’s operating manual, written to help them get back to playing in the midst of a pandemic, was 101 pages. It confirmed something that I already knew—thinking through all that needs to happen to get back to in-person gathering is difficult. And it can be wordy.

When Bishop Lewis asked me to chair the work group on returning to in-person worship, I’ll also admit that I was a bit naïve. How hard could it be to go back to doing something we’ve been doing for 2000 years? Just warm up the organ and open the doors and we’re back in business.

But these are not normal times and this is not an easily defeated virus that we’ve facing. We’re a long way from a vaccine, which means we’re a long way from normal. And we’re just beginning to get a sense of the tidal wave of grief we’re experiencing as we all begin to hear about the death of someone we know or love from COVID-19. Families worry about relatives in care facilities. Workers in front line jobs worry about the loved ones they return to each night.

Besides us clergy on the work group and our conference chancellor, we have two doctors: Dr. George Moxley, a VCU rheumatologist, and Dr. Karen McElfish, a pediatrician. They have brought home for us the many considerations that will be necessary for some time to come: physical distancing, face coverings, cleaning/hygiene, and screening. As we looked at the implications for these areas, we developed an operating manual of our own (which is, fortunately, now only 30 pages long).

I am sympathetic to those who picked up the manual and said, “This is too much! How are we supposed to do all of this?” I thought the same myself. And as I have answered emails of complaint and inquiry from across the conference, I have seen over and over again the simple, heartfelt desire of so many United Methodists to just get back to the sanctuaries they love without the apparatus that the manual requires. I get it. I feel it. I want that, too.

BUT…I know that we are saving lives with this approach. We are protecting people who are at-risk. We are helping us think through how to do the riskiest virus-related thing we can do at this moment: entering an enclosed space with a significant number of people for an extended period of time.

The good news is that churches are doing it. On the Eastern Shore churches are doing it. They are developing plans and submitting them for review. They are meeting again. And some have decided, for very good reasons, to wait until it’s safer.

In the meantime, whether the church is in the building or in the community or in the home, the church is continuing to be the Church of Jesus Christ. And if it’s not all about that, it doesn’t matter where we are.

Stand firm (and wash your hands!),

Alex

Bishop Lewis shares updates as some churches head into Stage 2

Thank you to the many dedicated Healthy Church Teams that made this possible and the ongoing work of other teams as you assess when and how to best return to in-person worship. For some churches in the Commonwealth, the most faithful step is to wait before moving to in-person worship and to provide other ways to worship.

This past Sunday there were 235 churches in the Conference that had one or more in-person worship services, an increase of nearly 100 from the preceding week. At each church, committed Christian brothers and sisters worked with one another to enable in-person worship. And our hard-working District Superintendents are also working closely with pastors to implement these services.

We must continue to emphasize safety when deciding when and how to return to in-person worship and related activities. Thank you for your attention to these matters and for continuing to do the work to build God’s kingdom and make Disciples for Jesus Christ.

Peace and Blessings,
Bishop Sharma D. Lewis

New Technical Assistance Manual for Local Churches 
to be used by churches in planning in-person worship from June 21 and going forward.

New information about Stage 2 return to in-person worship has been added to the Virginia Conference website at www.vaumc.org/return

The information includes
·       A video from Bishop Sharma D. Lewis
·       A letter from Bishop Sharma D. Lewis
·       A Technical Assistance Manual for Local Churches The Technical Assistance Manual is to be used  for planning in-person worship from June 21 and going forward.
·       COVID Health Acknowledgement Online Form Instructions