From the Pastors Desk

At Good Shepherd we are fortunate to have a large parking lot

From the Pastors Desk - July 04, 2020

At Good Shepherd we are fortunate to have a large parking lot which we believe can serve as a worship space throughout the summer and into the fall. Worshipping outdoors allows for greater distancing without adding several additional worship services and disinfecting each space after each use if we were to worship indoors at this time. Further, this allows any aerosols created to dissipate more quickly.

We will use the upper portion of our parking lot as a worship space. Please bring your own lawn/folding chair.

If we are unable to maintain safe and healthy worship practices in person, we will return to only online/by mail worship. There probably is not a single person in our church family that could not use a hug from a church friend right now, but we will have to continue to refrain.

· Worship will be at 10am on Sundays. This is out of consideration for our neighbors, who will have been notified and invited.

· In case of rain, worship will be cancelled, not moved inside.

· Please enter the parking lot through the “middle” entrance on 42^nd St. and park your car in the lower portion of the parking lot.

· Bring your lawn/folding chair to the upper lot. We will use every other parking space as a household worship space. If you are unable to carry your chair, we will have assistants wearing gloves to carry your chair as you arrive. They will be using hand sanitizer between cars.

· The building will remain closed, except for those preparing for worship or for emergency purposes.

· No bathroom facilities will be available.

· If you require water during a worship service, please bring bottled water from home as the building will remain closed.

· An offering basket will be available as you come to the upper parking lot.

· Bulletins will be available. Please take one per household and take your bulletin home with you.

· Masks may be removed when reading or speaking in a worship leader role. At the conclusion of worship, please take your bulletin and chair and go directly to your car and leave the property.

A Word about Singing and Praying Together

· Sadly, singing together, even from a distance, is one of the riskiest behaviors due to the spread of aerosols and droplets that can carry the virus a significant distance and remain suspended in the air. Singing utilizes forced air and projects further, making masks less effective to protect your neighbor. Further, the preparatory breaths taken during singing or playing wind instruments are deep inhalations, even diaphragmatic breaths for the trained musicians, causes the lungs to expand and take in air beyond typical shallow breathing. Thus, we will not be singing. We will be exploring soloists and small ensembles in the future as best practices receive further attention.

· Similar caution applies to unison speaking, such as praying the Lord’s Prayer and other unison speech. We encourage you to share any unison speech and prayers by bowing your head and speaking softly.

Who should come to summer worship?

· Anyone who is not feeling well, who has traveled, has been exposed to anyone who has been ill, or is in an at-risk population should refrain from summer worship.

· Persons who are at higher risk for coronavirus (children, persons age 65 or older, those who are asthmatic, diabetic or have a compromised immune system) should assess the degree of risk that is acceptable for them and their household.

· Only those who are prepared to follow all of the guidelines – including wearing a mask, bringing and/or utilizing our hand sanitizing stations, willing to observe the social distancing and traffic flow patterns, and ready to follow posted and verbal direction, should consider in-person worship.

· Please wash your hands before you leave home and as soon as you get home.

· Please bring a clean face mask for each member of the household except for children less than 2 years old. Wear the face mask throughout the service and when you are near others.

· Please do not shake hands, hug, or otherwise touch people who are not members of your household.

· Attendance will be taken and made available to health officials if needed.