Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Dear Siblings in Christ,

The old joke about Illinois weather is - if you do not like the weather, just give it an hour and it will change.  The same can be said for our present situation regarding the COVID-19 mitigations recommended by the Illinois Department of Public Health.  After two weeks of attendance capacity limits of 50 people, followed by two weeks of 25, the continuing rise of COVID cases has made additional reductions necessary.  We have been asked to restrict all gatherings to a maximum of 10 people.  Therefore, beginning with this upcoming weekend (November 14-15), we will be cancelling all in-person worship services until further notice.  Our online worship services will continue as they have since late March.  The online worship services will be available each Saturday beginning at 5:00 p.m. (God willing).  For those who would like to worship together in a virtual sense, we will reinstate our Facebook watch parties on Sundays at 10:30 a.m. 

Confirmation, bell practice, and other church activities will continue as scheduled as long as the number of participants is 10 people or less. 

While we do not like the idea of cancelling in-person worship services, we do know that nearly all of our families have experienced the effects of COVID-19 in one way or another.  Of course, as most of you know, our congregational family has lost very dear members to this deadly disease.  Therefore, following the teachings of Jesus, we will do what it takes to keep our most vulnerable members safe.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the church office.  Thank you for your understanding.  

With Love,

Pastor Jon Pedersen 

Steve Kirk, SOTH Council President