Dear members, There has been the thought among some pastors at least that if we are required to wear masks, that it seems to accomplish the same thing as not singing, or as we have been doing, limiting singing to the very end.
As I announced at the beginning of last Sunday’s service and live stream, after discussion among our elders, we intend to go back to “normal” services on Sunday, with sung liturgy and hymns throughout. The windows will remain open and fans on. Hymns and some parts of the liturgy will still remain shortened. The liturgy and hymns will be printed out in the single-use service folders. Our cleaning procedure will remain as it has been.
However, I welcome feedback. I want to be able to accommodate as many people physically in church as possible, and will seek to do what I can to make that happen.
Private communion services (without singing) for families will continue on Thursdays via registering on our website.
Hymns, in the Lutheran Church, are not mere “songs of praise.” If they were, we could do without them, since God is clear that He doesn’t need anything from us. Rather, hymns are proclamations of the Gospel. The Gospel is something we need. All the more now. So as we proclaim to each other the wondrous works of God and encourage each other, God is pleased.
One final note of encouragement: If you haven’t been coming because of the mask mandate, know that no one will shame you for wearing or not wearing a mask. This is a place where comfort is given to sinners in need. Nothing – not even masks – should keep someone from the Lord’s House and all the gifts distributed here. We are, after all, a family, in the truest sense of the word through Baptism into Christ.
“Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have the habit of doing. Rather, let us encourage each other, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25)
In nomine Jesu,
Pastor Hendrix
Edit: After this was sent out, a news article from the BBC claimed that singing is hardly any more risky than speaking when done at the same volume.
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