COVID-19 Announcement
Updated 9/8/2021
Indoor Worship each Sunday begins September 12, 2021. Grace will offer indoor worship online livestream worship which will also be recorded and posted online after the worship service for later viewing. Something new is our audio worship experience. Call in and listen on your phone with a toll-free number! If you call in late, the number will still work so you won’t miss the rest of the worship service. Call: 833-579-2830 (it’s a number that is not long distance). If you are unvaccinated, we invite you to use the online options.
We ask all who attend in person worship to wear a mask. Now is the time, if there ever was one, for us to care selflessly about one another. We ask you to please do your part and wear masks indoors. Thank you!
Old Info below….
Updated 6/1/2021
When will indoor worship begin? Indoor Worship has been delayed until the end of the school year to allow more opportunities for those who need vaccinations to obtain them. We also have to think of our children in school settings. By waiting until June, we mitigate the risk. To begin with, we will be indoors on the first and third Sundays of June and July at 10:30 a.m. Each week will still have parking lot worship at 9:30 a.m. and there will always be the online option, too. As you can imagine, it has not been easy to navigate the needs and safety expectations for all of our members.
Will we be wearing masks? We are in St. Paul which has a mandate for wearing masks inside. We will continue this practice indoors at Grace. Outside gatherings allow the option of not wearing a mask.
This is a time to be filled with gratitude for com- ing through the pandemic. It is also a time to remember those who have been affected by COVID-19. It has been a challenging year to say the least.
Updated 3/24/2021
Summary: No regular in-the-building Sunday Worship Services and no group gatherings at church until further notice. The leadership team at Grace is keeping a close eye on the situation and will communicate more information as it becomes available.
Palm Sunday and Easter services are scheduled to be held in the parking lot as well as on-line. More information can be found here. Additionally, Daily Devotions and services will be made available so we can continue to worship from home, click here. They are also available on our FaceBook page, where you can stay in touch with those in our faith community.
Pastor’s Letter 3/16/2020
This weekend, I spent a great deal of time in conversations with colleagues, reading articles and guidelines, listening to directives from our elected leaders, and consulting with our leadership here at Grace concerning the health risks as people all around the world face a pandemic known as COVID 19.
As a result of the many discussions, our church leadership has decided to cancel almost all church activities.
Our office hours will remain the same and I will be doing most of my pastoral care ministry by telephone. We will have special devotions and worship opportunities on our church Facebook page as well as our Website. For those who do not use on-line resources, a weekly Sunday mailing will come to your home.
Future announcements during these two weeks will be on our website, our Facebook page, our Grace at a Glance email blast, and a phone calling tree.
This is not the reality that we want to be living in, but here we are. As a church we want to hope and pray for the best while we prepare for the worst.
Our church council will still be meeting this Tuesday and part of that meeting will be to consider a plan to implement as we move forward in the coming weeks. Our first priority will be to keep our at-risk population safe. This is not only about us individually but also about others.
There are things we can do to “flatten the curve” which means we slow the spread through our actions so the medical community is not overwhelmed.
1. Wash your hands.
2. Stay home if you are sick, especially if you are running a fever. Better safe than sorry.
3. Treat the people around you with kindness. Some of our neighbors working in retail and service areas have been yelled at, sworn at and disrespected because there are no more face masks/bleach/toilet paper on the shelves. Remember to be kind.
4. Check in with your family and friends. Phone calls, text messages, e-mails all count. Even if we cannot shake hands and hug, we can still be in touch and prevent loneliness and isolation.
5. Be patient with us, at church, as we make changes and address current news. We are all figuring this out as we go along. We do not want to be alarmist or stoke the flames of fear. We just want to protect you.
6. Look for ways to help. Send notes of encouragement to medical and emergency personnel.
7. Continue to support our church. Our operating expenses will continue as usual. Please remember to contribute so that we can continue to share the love of Christ with others, keep current with our bills, care for our facility, and support our ministry and staff.
8. This is the most important: Pray. Pray for our community, our nation, and our world. Pray for those who are sick, those who are isolated, and those who live in fear. Pray for our medical providers and nursing home staff, they are already exhausted. Pray for scientists and other researchers. Pray for community and church leaders who will have to make difficult decisions in the weeks and months to come. Pray, and then wash your hands again.
Together, we will move forward in faith as we keep one another in prayer. At times like these fear is natural but faith is supernatural. Remember what God’s Word says:
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” Philippians 4:6
In Christ who gives us strength,
Pastor Karen