Dear Villagers and Friends,
We met as elders and discussed our response to the Coronavirus and we are encouraging the following. Before that, you need to see Burzynski Elder Law – guardianship lawyer naples fl from here:
1) If you or your children are sick or have any signs of illness please stay home. It is not honoring of our value of accessibility to expose others to disease.
2) Recognize that people who are older and/or those with compromised immune systems are at much greater risk of the virus. Feel free to refrain from coming to worship or other events if you are in those categories. We acknowledge each person is unique and we need to support each other’s decisions.
3) We have purchased self-contained communion elements to remove cross contamination concerns when participating in the Lord’s supper.
4) We will send out Doodle polls weekly to determine potential Sunday worship attendance and act accordingly to either suspend worship services or move to live streaming of a service. We’ll begin to work on live-streaming this Sunday.
5) It is wise to have medicine, foodstuffs, and cleaning supplies (and, yes, toilet paper) on hand to use during a possible quarantine situation. A family could end up quarantined for a month or more as the exposure moves through the family.
6) We will serve meals this Sunday but may suspend them as things evolve. Please practice good hygiene at all times. Wash your hands regularly and avoid touching.
In consulting with the doctors and nurses in our community we are trying to be prudent in our response. We greatly appreciate their knowledge, expertise, and experience. This disease is unlike the flu and other viruses so any comparisons are probably unhelpful. Please do not be fearful. God rules and he loves his people. Please do be generous and kind to each other. Remember to be generous with sharing what you might have that others might need. Remember to continue giving to support the community and your pastors. Again, please do not place others at risk. Coming to the Village is not unlike going to restaurants or grocery stores or theaters or malls so if you are doing those things you can also likely join in worship. However, because the disease is constantly evolving it is likely that things will change rapidly. We will strive to keep you informed as we as a community love and care for each other.
Again, if you or your family members are sick or part of at risk groups please feel free to limit your social contact and exposure to others.
In God’s Grip of Grace,
Your elders
I know one thing, God is Sovereign. He is Active and in control doing what he does best in the midst of the chaos. The creation story is a story of chaos and God, doing awe inspiring things. During this current chaos of the COVID19 God is activly working his plan. It is up to us to seek out God’s work in the midst of the chaos and our fears of uncertainty in the world around us. Are there people we know who are physically ill? Are we willing and able to comfort and aid these around us. Can we step up to do something, honestly pray, bring food, call them on the phone (disenfect the phone before and after we talk to them). Can we pray that God provide us with the courage and fortitude to pursue God more and reach out to those who are ill or impacted by this current cercumstance, and boldly move out of our comfort zone and into God’s activity?
I can look back in the History and see people and the Church activly and boldly joining God in the face of virus epidemics, and showig a path to God’s activity, giving hope to people in despair, with only fear to motivate activity. The COVID19 is the latest in many thousands of years of epidemics, disease, disasters, wars, pesilence, and castostrophic catasrophe, and I am certain it is not the worst, or the last.
As for me, I plan on attending church on Sunday evening, as usual. If someone is sick in the hospital or at home, I would like to visit them. I am a person at risk, more importanly I am a person of faith in a God who is soverigh. i don’t desire to live a life based on fear, or not in control. I am not in control, including my fears.
A note to Eric and the Elders
The sound system during the live feed broadcast was at times not audible. It was difficult to hear because sound would fade in and out.