Family and friends of Messiah,

The past year has been a challenging time for people across the world and our church has not been immune. The ripple effects of the Covid-19 virus have spread in devastating ways. It as been a year since we have been able to gather in worship. Zoom used to mean fast, now we hear or read zoom and know we will be looking at each other in squares on the screen. To date myself I feel like I am watching the end of the Muppets show sometimes.

The Messiah staff and Council have been monitoring the COVID-19 Virus health data since we made the decision to postpone worshipping in our sanctuary because of the danger, the seriousness, and spread of the virus. Many of you follow the same health data and are aware that the number of positive cases, hospitalizations and deaths in our area have begun to decrease over the past few weeks for various reasons notwithstanding the hope that comes with the recent start of administering effective vaccinations.

Many have asked about when we will re-open the church, I think about that word, “re-open” and I don’t like it. We have been open, the church staff is busy, we have been worshiping, and we have been serving our community, so we are open.  I like the word re-gathering better, more appropriate to me.  When we re-gather, there will be guidelines we must use for our own safety and those around us. So, I am sure of one thing… it won’t be the same. With the hope of better days to come. I look forward to the time when we can worship in our sanctuary. Right now, we are not there, we are at the point where we are planning what re-gathering will look like. I am sure that this will be done in small steps to ensure safety for all involved. When will we be able to swing open our doors, I don’t know. We are looking at options and what we can do, so more to follow.
We have heard from many of you and we appreciate the ways you have shared your thoughts and feelings concerning your passion for worshipping inside our sanctuary and the warmth, fellowship, and inspiration you experience when we do. It is a yearning for physical worship with each other, our pastors, and musicians that cannot be fulfilled by electronic means, even as meaningful as our online opportunities for worship have been. We understand, and know that we are a highly relational church, and we all share the longing to worship together in our sanctuary. We hope that will resume soon. As the plans move forward, we will be providing information to all.

Charlie Radabaugh, MLC Council President