Coming back together on July 5, 2020

Greetings to you all,

The Caney Spring UMC Administrative Board met on Saturday, June 13, 2020, for the purpose of evaluating coming back to the building for worship on Sunday mornings.  After discussion, the decision was made to come back to one another’s presence beginning Sunday, July 5, 2020, at the regular time of 9:45 am. 

In order for the United Methodist Churches in the future Tennessee-Western Kentucky Conference to reassemble safely, toward the end of April, the bishop assembled a 14-member task force consisting of clergy and lay persons, with varying backgrounds in education, social work, and healthcare.  I am honored to serve on this task force, leaning into my first-career in infectious disease and research.  We bathed our work in prayer, continually asking the Spirit to guide and direct us in this important task.  A few weeks ago, the preliminary guidelines and recommendations were released, with the expanded, full guidelines released today. This can also be found on the bishop’s blog, along with an accompanying blog entry at https://bishopbillmcalilly.com. Please go to the blog and review the 24-page guidelines document.

Out of an abundance of care and concern, the local church leadership reviewed the published guidelines from the task force and have applied them within the context of our setting.  While not every recommendation is applicable, I’m going to highlight what impacts us at Caney Spring UMC, while asking you to keep in mind that this pandemic is fluid in nature.  We are all learning as we go, and when we know better, we will adapt.

Coming back to the building will look different from when we left.  There are a few things we are asking you have with you to ensure your safety and the safety of others.  To protect our most vulnerable members, we are asking that you bring with you a mask or face covering (that covers both your mouth and nose) for yourself and everyone who is coming to worship with you, and wear the mask or face covering for the duration of worship (placing it on your face prior to entering the building and waiting to remove it until you are back in your vehicle).  We are also asking that you bring hand sanitizer, as frequent disinfecting of your hands is essential to your health and the health of those around you. 

Upon arrival, we are asking you to enter through the front doors of the sanctuary, so you can be screened in.  If someone is waiting to enter, please stay in your vehicle until they have entered prior to approaching the entrance.  Screening procedures have been put into place to protect everyone in attendance.  Your temperature will be taken  to ensure it is 99.9° F or less before you enter the building.  You will be asked a series of non-privacy protected health questions.  This is all being done to protect you, and those with whom you worship.  If you are feeling ill, we ask you to refrain from attending in-person worship.  It may be helpful to arrive to the building sooner rather than later, to avoid a last minute rush.

When you enter the sanctuary, you will notice many things have been removed, notably the United Methodist Hymnals, Cokesbury Worship Hymnals, Pew Bibles, and all pew paraphernalia.  This was done out of an abundance of caution to remove the risk of cross-contamination.  You will also notice some pews have been roped off in order to maintain social distancing.  You may find yourself in a different seat than you normally occupy.  For social distancing considerations, if you were around people from church during the safer at home period, it would be ok for you to sit with those people, otherwise, please seat yourself in a fashion that insulates the 6-feet social distancing margin recommended by the CDC.  Once seated, please only leave your seat when essential.

Likewise, worship will be markedly different.  Our services will be shortened, to prevent the risk associated with prolonged exposure.  We have chosen to follow the scientific based guidance of refraining from congregational singing at this time.  All spoken liturgy will continue; however, you will remain seated for the duration of the service..  Weekly worship bulletins will be emailed to you in advance and hosted in the Google Drive assigned to me by the Conference, and you are encouraged to either load these to an electronic device you bring to worship, or print and bring from home where able (if you are not able, please let me know so a bulletin can be printed in advance for you).  At this time, we will not be celebrating Holy Communion while we are together, and there will be no ministry with youth or children per the governor’s guidelines for houses of worship (this includes the children’s message, Sunday School, and Vacation Bible School).  At the end of service, we ask that you exit orderly, back to front, inside to outside. 

Several have asked if this is the right time for them and their families to return to worship.  If you or your family do not feel comfortable returning to in-person worship at this time, virtual worship will continue each Sunday.  If in doubt, I encourage you to have a conversation with your healthcare provider who can help you navigate this decision.  Page 14 of the TWK Conference guidance details the phases for reassembling. 

I, in conjunction with our Conference and the lay leadership of the church, will continue to monitor the already rising COVID-19 positive cases in Tennessee, and will adjust as needed.

For reference, proper techniques for hand washing and mask wearing are detailed in the guidance; the following videos links are helpful for some people as well:

Mask:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNjTLT-VQbo

Hand Washing:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PmVJQUCm4E

Hand Sanitizer:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xC-_7ZiQoY

If you are planning to attend in-person worship on July 5, please email, call, or text me and let me know so we can plan accordingly.  If you do not have a mask or face covering, please alert me of that as well so we can have one for you at the church building.

This email and the guidelines have a lot of information, and if you are feeling overwhelmed, know you are not alone.  I am here and want to help you feel comfortable in this season of change.  Please don’t hesitate to contact me.  If you feel we need to have a Zoom question and answer time, I am open to it.  Together, we will get through this. 

Grace, peace, and love to you all.

Pastor Tim