“All things are lawful,” but not all things are beneficial.

“All things are lawful,” but not all things build up.” (1 Corinthians 10:23)

Dear Friends,

As many of you know, Governor Northam and local leaders have determined that the criteria for the first phase of “re-opening” have been sufficiently met to allow for Fairfax County to ease some restrictions on public gathering and business activity beginning this Friday. The statement from the county, which may be read here, includes houses of worship in the category of organizations that may begin new levels of activity. Because there is a change in what is permitted this week we wanted to address some of the priorities of the committee that is working on re-gathering plans for St. Luke’s. First, we do not believe there is any need to rush into activities before we have fully considered the risks and benefits of gathering in person. Even to gather 10 or fewer people might constitute an unacceptable risk if any of those ten were especially vulnerable to a severe case of Covid-19. Any plans will be submitted to the bishop for approval, and we will not move quickly into in-person worship. This is where we are weighing what is “lawful” and what is “beneficial” to our community. None of God’s people should be put at risk unnecessarily, and we are doing well with online worship and with connecting to each other online and by phone. When we re-gather, we want it to be as low-risk as possible, and so we are prioritizing the following actions in phase 1:

Identifying and purchasing equipment for better live-streaming of services from the nave of the church. Once the stay at home order is lifted, Bishop Goff has said we are permitted to stream services from the church with a minimum number of participants and with physical distancing standards maintained throughout the service.
Planning for several possible scenarios for re-gathered worship alongside the online option for later in the summer. There is no timeline for when we will be able to gather in groups larger than 10, but we are planning for this eventual possibility. We expect to have parameters and checklists for what protocols we must follow from the diocese, next week.
Planning for smaller groups (less than 10) to meet at church if needed. We are still asking all groups to meet online if possible for the next phase. So far, social and work related groups have all been successfully meeting by Zoom and phone, and we expect that this will continue for some time.

Later phases and evolving situations are not certain, and we can’t say when we will begin returning to church for worship, but it will not be this week, and we are taking our time to be sure we are making as safe a decision as possible. For now, we can look forward to seeing our church via online worship in the near future, and we can trust that the Holy Spirit will fill our church community on Pentecost even as we meet in our separate places. We are not neglecting to meet, and God will meet us where we are.

In Christ,

Veronika Travis and Amy Moorman

For the Committee to Re-gather St. Luke's