“I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.” Psalm 122:1

AMEN! HALLELUJAH! Trinity Lutheran Church is re-opening the church for worship services! Who would have thought this would have lasted almost half a year? Finally, back to normal! Normal? Not quite. Yes, we are moving back inside the sanctuary for worship services on Saturday, September 12th at 5:00pm and Sunday, September 13th at 9:30am but not quite back to “normal.” A variety of precautions and safety measures need to be followed to protect all who gather for worship.

• MASKS! MASKS! MASKS! You must wear a mask when you enter, exit or move around in the church. You must keep your mask on when you take your seat in church.
• Social and seated distancing are required! The sanctuary seating will be marked out to keep everyone at a safe distance from one another. Families (pods) may sit closer together.
• Obviously, if you are quarantining for any reason please worship online rather than in person. We will continue to record and post services online, probably the Saturday evening service.
• Follow all the movement guidelines when entering and exiting the church.
• There will be no fellowship time inside the church and no coffee. Visiting with one another is encouraged but needs to move outside the church. Everyone is asked to exit the church promptly following the service except for those involved in altar, cleaning and other duties.
• While some churches are avoiding singing, we will include congregational singing.
• Saturday service music will be led by the organ, singers and musicians from the balcony. Worshippers are asked to please sit closer to the front of the church.
• Sunday morning music will be led by our Praise Teams from the front. Several pews will be restricted seating (12 or more feet) in front of the team.
• No one is allowed to sit in the balcony except those involved in leading the music and projection of the service.
• No one is permitted to go down into the basement because school classrooms are set up and would need to be disinfected once again before Monday morning.
• Once the service has begun a picture of the gathered worshipers will be taken and put on file for Covid-19 tracing purposes (that hopefully will never be needed).
• We will not be entering the school building either for the same reason.
• There will be no Sunday School or Sunday Bible Classes offered to begin with. We will review this as we go along.
• There will be no Children’s Church, but we will offer a Children’s sermon in the service.
• Holy Communion will be distributed as we have been for our Drive-In services – at least in the beginning. We will also review this as we go. No common cup!
•  The church will be sanitized via a misting process and cleaned after both services. FYI – this is why we are only offering one service on Sunday morning because there is very little time to sanitize and clean between the services.
• We are planning to continue to broadcast the Sunday service over the FM transmitter should someone prefer to stay outside and for our neighbors who may have grown used to listening in.

It’s not quite “normal,” but it’s a step in the right direction. To some these guidelines may seem excessive, to others not restrictive enough. For the good of Trinity Lutheran Church and all members, let’s strive to be flexible and observe the above measures for the protection of all. If you feel it is not safe for you to return to worship in the sanctuary, please call the church office to arrange for a pastoral visit and home communion.
~ Pastor Dennis Krueger