Dear Vine Street disciples,
How are you doing? I trust you and yours are well. Larry Adams told me a couple of weeks ago that folks in Germantown were referring to Nashville’s situation as “Coronado” - a clever combination of “tornado” and “Corona.” I wonder what new names will emerge after Sunday’s “derecho” storm system and the power outages thousands of residents have experienced since!
Many of us are wondering, “How long?” When will the power be back on? When will the homes be repaired? When will we return to work? When will the businesses be open? When will we leave our homes without worrying about the spread of COVID-19? When will we gather again, all of us together in the sanctuary, to worship God with loud songs of praise? How long until we know we’re on the other side of this?
The hard truth is that there are very few firm answers when it comes to timelines. The bigger truth is that God continues to be at work, comforting and healing, inspiring courage and patience, encouraging cooperation and life-giving research, and moving with us toward wholeness. And as disciples of Jesus, we will continue to serve God and God’s purposes, regardless of circumstances.
Mayor Cooper, in introducing the Roadmap for Reopening Nashville, said, “Our city will be living with COVID-19 until there is an effective vaccine for the virus,” and he continued, “Living with COVID-19 means returning to work with COVID-19.” It also means returning to school, to the playground, to the symphony, to church, to the stadium with COVID-19.
According to this plan, it will take weeks after the Mayor’s Safer at Home order (currently in effect through May 8) has expired, before residents can gather in groups larger than ten. And even in the best-case scenario, those of us age 65+ and high-risk will be asked to stay home. This means that well into the summer our congregational life will follow guidelines for social distancing that have proven successful in slowing the spread of infection.
We will continue to stream our worship service from the sanctuary via Facebook and YouTube, and we will continue to urge those who participate in person to observe social distancing rules.
We will increase in-person worship attendance gradually as Metro Health Department recommendations warrant.
As attendance numbers move beyond staff and other leaders, we will make arrangements for seating and safe partaking of the Lord’s Supper, avoid use of hymnals and pew Bibles until it is safe to do so, and encourage frequent hand-washing or hand-sanitizing.
We will also continue online fellowship activities like game nights, the Sunday coffee hour, and various groups until it is safe to have small group meetings in person.
The fact that we are all more or less homebound now also represents an opportunity to devote a little more time to learning together. Beginning on Thursday, we will roll out various opportunities to gather via Zoom for Bible study, book groups, and topical studies. Look for these announcements in your e-news and on social media.
Starting next week we will invite small groups to gather for Picnic under the Dogwood on the lawn on the west side of the sanctuary. Put on your mask, pack a sandwich, grab a lawn chair, and come on over for a little person-to-person interaction not involving a screen! Look for details in Thursday’s e-news.
And saving a juicy bit of news for last, let us celebrate that the hard reality of not meeting at church also has a huge benefit: construction will begin the week of May 17 with abatement work, and the very loud and very dusty demolition work for the elevator following soon after that! The Administrative Council will meet tomorrow night to finalize work on the construction budget, and in a few days you will receive an exciting update about the scope of this major renovation, the timeline, and the promise of new opportunities for ministry these building updates represent.
In all this, and particularly during the most difficult moments, remember the bigger truth: God continues to be at work in the world, comforting and healing, inspiring courage and patience, encouraging cooperation and life-giving research, and moving with us toward wholeness. And as disciples of Jesus, we will continue to serve God and God’s purposes, regardless of circumstances.
Peace in Christ,
thomas