[Grace UCC News] Temporary return to online only worship

[Jim Clausing]

Many of you may have already heard Pastor Keith's call last evening on
DialMyCalls, but we want to get the information out there in as many ways
as possible.


--------------------------------------------

January 10, 2022


Dear Church Family and Friends,


Happy New Year!  We hope you, and family and friends, were able to share
time together during this past holiday season.  We pray everyone is safe
and well.   We know how special it has been to have returned to in-person
worship in our beautiful sanctuary, with strict social distancing and
contact tracing in place.  We are so grateful this was able to occur during
Advent.


Following the board re-organizational meeting held on January 9, the new
church council held the first meeting of 2022.  Again, Council was faced
with serious and difficult discussion about whether or not to continue to
meet in person, with our many requirements in place (every other pew,
wearing masks, not passing the offering plate, passing the peace from our
pews, taking communion outside and from individual baggies and cups, and
more) or to return to virtual services for the remainder of January 2022 in
hope of returning in person in February.


According to health officials, Fairfield County is a “hot spot” in Ohio.
Many of us know family and friends who have been diagnosed with Covid,
despite having been vaccinated and boosted.  Additionally, Fairfield
Medical Center has once again decided that all elective
procedures/surgeries are being postponed due to the stress on the system
and staff.    Local business is struggling to remain open due to lack of
staff.


After much discussion by Council members and Pastor Keith, it was decided *we
will temporarily return to virtual worship beginning January 16, 2022. * The
Council will communicate every two weeks to review local health information
but are hopeful we can return to in-person worship in February 2022.  We
will be communicating this via all of our social media, the all-call
system, this letter, and phone calls.  Please share with friends as you
speak with them to help us assure everyone has received this information.


This decision was not taken lightly. It is with care and concern for not
only those who attend in person, but for all those who have contact with
those who attend in person, for those who are vaccinated and un-vaccinated,
for those who are at greater risk for infection, despite vaccination status
– for all.   This is a demonstration of our love for one another as Jesus
loves us.  Please join us in prayer this will be short term and our
communities and nation will begin to experience a rapid decline in
infection as other countries have experienced.


Don’t hesitate to contact Pastor Keith or Johanna Pearce with any questions
or concerns.


Go with Grace.


PS, here are a couple of graphs showing the current Covid situation in
Fairfield County that contributed to the decision (courtesy of
covidactnow.org).


[image: image.png][image: image.png][image: image.png][image: image.png]



---Jim (he/him)
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