July 30, 2021
Dear Prairie Avenue Family,
After several weeks of declining case rates of COVID-19 in the area, we may be once again facing another spike in infections, hospitalizations, and possibly deaths as a highly contagious version, COVID-19 delta, spreads rapidly throughout the population. This week, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) updated its guidelines regarding masks, recommending counties where there are substantial or high transmission rates to wear masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status. Macon County is currently in the substantial stage.
Most of the new COVID cases are occurring in the unvaccinated population. But; there are a small, but increasing number of "breakthrough" cases among the vaccinated. There is also growing evidence that vaccinated populations may be able to carry the COVID-19 delta asymptomatically. These troubling and life-threatening conditions should not move us to fear, but caution. If you are vaccinated, you are more likely to die from a lightning strike than to die from COVID. The effectiveness of each available vaccine varies in Delta cases, but all of them have a greater than 50% efficacy.
Given the availability of vaccines and treatments (an unparalleled achievement for human history), it is highly unlikely the restrictions in 2020 will be reinstated beyond local public safety and health authorities. The data should lead us to ask what we can do to reduce the spread of COVID-19- as individuals, as a church, and in our community.
COVID-19 (and the variants) effectively spread through the air. The only way to reduce cases is to limit its spread, besides vaccination, is mask coverings over the mouth and nose. I know, it is uncomfortable, and for those wearing glasses, the fogging of lenses. If you are planning to join us in-person this Sunday, you will see me in my Disciples symbol mask. I recommend everyone (regardless of vaccination status) wear a mask throughout the building until you are seated. If social distance cannot be maintained, then masks should be used.
The single most important thing we can do to avoid the spread or contraction of COVID is to be vaccinated. I want to encourage you, once again, if you have not been vaccinated and you don’t have a health condition that prevents being vaccinated, to take the step and become vaccinated. I see this as an act of Christian discipleship, reducing the risk not only of contracting COVID, but of spreading it to others if you do contract it. This is one tangible expression of agape – of selfless love – as you seek not only to protect yourself from COVID, but to protect others who might contract it from you if you contract it. Wearing a mask when gathered with others for their protection is another expression of Christian love.
I have gathered from informal conversations that a large majority of our in-person attendees are among the fully vaccinated. That makes you some of the safest people to be with, and our church is one of the safest places to be with other people in terms of COVID. But the recent rise in COVID cases means that we’ll work to do what we can as a church to minimize the chance of the virus being spread through our worship and programming.
Speaking of programming, we have our first Stephen Minister to be commissioned on Sunday, August 8, and an exciting class on addressing poverty.
Worship This Weekend:
Soul Food: Something Different
We begin a new worship series this Sunday on how God feeds our souls. Our opening passage, John 6:24-35 occurs just after John's version of the feeding of the five thousand (one of those few stories recording in all four gospels). In the act of providing physical nourishment, Jesus is revealing the real presence of spiritual nourishment as well. With bellies still full, some travel across the sea (probably not all 5,000, that would have been a Roman-peace threatening armada!) to encounter Jesus and ask questions and make a request. The curiously fed need their curiosity nourished more.
Encountering Jesus means correcting two misunderstandings of the crowd: first, that Moses gave the Israelites the manna (for, on the contrary, God did); and second, that the crowds lack a convincing sign, such as the ancient "bread from heaven" (for, on the contrary, Jesus himself is both the sign and the bread).
We all experience the desire, the hunger, we even call it, for something more than what is available or briefly satisfying. This story is about hunger and thirst, both physical and yet spiritual, the life we are made for. Often we seek an intermediary to provide what we want. Jesus reminds us that an intermediary is unnecessary now, full access granted to the generosity of God. Our longings and hungerings tell us of our disconnection with the source of life and well-being, nourishment only met with this human-life-in-God, of God-with-us, this companionship into which Jesus calls us every day. We often seek things that in the end do not satisfy. But when we take into our lives the God-life, creating, sustaining, and nourishing both body and spirit, we receive the bread of life. And that is something different to seek and receive.
Seeking Shalom Masterclass
Sunday, August 8, 10:45 am
At the end of June, I joined 7 others to be part of the Leaders Lab training through the Lupton Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Those who participated in Sunshine Class may be familiar with the name from a previous study we did base on the book Toxic Charity by Bob Lupton.
Leaders Lab will give us the skills, assessment, and recommendations needed to respond holistically to the materially poor as a church. There are all kinds of poverty -emotional, relational, spiritual, vocational, etc. Not just lower-income status.
To help you see, hear, and experience what I am now learning, I am offering a gathering to view, discuss, and respond to Seeking Shalom.
Through Leaders Lab, I am also able to offer individual access to this coursework online. If you are interested in participating through this access, please email me. I will be glad to share the access point information and process.
Service Opportunities
It is time for more congregational participation in the order of service and providing hospitality on Sunday morning. We need worship leaders for each service, 8 am or 9:30 am. The script is usually completed by Wednesday mornings and can be picked up or sent via e-mail to you. We need greeters to open the door, secure it about ten minutes after worship begins, leave the sanctuary just after communion is shared to offer goodbye at the doorway.
We are still seeking nominations for board officers and trustees.
Invite friends to join you for worship
this weekend, in person, online
In-person on Sunday mornings at 8 am (Traditional) or 9:30 am (Modern) Masks are encouraged regardless of vaccination status if social distancing cannot be kept.
See you this weekend online or in person,
Blessings to you all,