Page 4 - July 2020 Traveler

Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

How long, O Lord! We hear this cry several times from the
psalmist and in Habakkuk 1:2, “O Lord, how long shall I cry

for help, and you will not listen?” NRSV

How often have we cried out these past four months, “How long O Lord will this virus
last; how long O Lord before we can go out without a mask; how long O Lord before

things return to normal; and how long O Lord before we can gather for worship?”

Unfortunately, there is no certainty at this point; yes, our cries are heartfelt and emo-
tional; however, we can choose to focus our thoughts on the hope and trust we have

in God’s love and promises. In Jeremiah 29:11 we read, “For I know the plans I have
for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give
you hope and a future.” I love The Message translation: Jesus says, “I know what I’m
doing I have it all planned out - plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to

give you the future you hope for. When you call on me, when you come and pray to
me, I’ll listen. When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. Yes, when you get seri-
ous about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t

be disappointed.”

HOPE IS ON THE HORIZON! Plans are in the works for returning to indoor worship.
A team of Kim Schuldt, Shannon Brown, and myself has been formed to plan what re-

turning to Trinity’s building while living with the COVID virus will look like.
At the beginning of COVID, many of us had mental images of all returning at once to

our church building in celebration, but we are now recognizing that may not be possi-
ble. With the physical restrictions of maintaining six feet apart from each family and
using every other pew, we will be determining how many families we can accommo-
date at each service.

The team will be creating guidelines in the following four areas of concern:

Sanitation/cleaning procedures
Plans for entry, flow, seating and exiting measures,
Worship and liturgical modifications, and

Training in oversight procedures (contact tracing, screening)

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