Clairemont Emmanuel COVID 19 Response
UPDATED SERVICE TIMES
Service time for Sunday
When: 9:00AM and 10:30AM in person and LIVESTREAM
Where: INSIDE our Sanctuary or go to YouTube and search “Clairemont Emmanuel”, click on the LIVE STREAM.
To get our outlines and other downloadable information click button above.
If you would like more information about COVID visit the CDC here.
CURRENT CHURCH STRATEGY
Dear friend,
I’m writing this to you because I love you and I’m concerned for you. If this doesn’t apply to you, I’m guessing you know many people it does apply to, and so I encourage you to have a conversation with them about what follows.
What a crazy time this past year and a half has been. As a church, we’ve been meeting outdoors for over a year now (except a few times for weather). We took every precaution we knew we could take: being outdoors (!!), shorter service, taking temperatures on the way in, using hand sanitizer, sitting in family groups, minimizing things we touch (by having you print up the outline at home, bringing beach chairs), etc.
Now from the CDC, we know that COVID-19 doesn’t really transfer on surfaces and the likelihood of getting it outdoors is next to nothing.
Also, after having lost six times in the U.S. Supreme Court trying to keep churches in California from meeting, Governor Newsom has lifted all mandates from churches. All churches in California are now exempt from wearing masks, keeping a distance, numbers of people, etc. etc. etc.
I know from talking to many of our members who haven’t been in the habit of meeting together physically each week, that they’ve just gotten out of the habit of coming and they have said they plan to eventually come back.
We are so thankful that we’ve been able to seamlessly maintain an on-line presence on YouTube and Facebook and I also know from many of you that you have indeed been regularly watching our worship service on-line. I’m glad we’ve had that available and hats off to Nathan and his great audio-visual team.
What I want and need to say is that on-line church is good if you’re sick or traveling in that you hear the worship music and the sermon, but not good in that you miss so much of what church is about.
Of course the sermon and being challenged from God’s Word is a part of it, but a huge part of church is being together as God’s people; we are the church. This is very much like the situation the writer to the Hebrews was addressing when he wrote in Hebrews 10:25, “We mustn’t do what some people have got into the habit of doing, neglecting to meet together. Instead, we must encourage one another, and all the more as you can see the great day coming closer.”
Aside from all the positive effects church has on your life, and I could mention dozens, there is one simple reason to attend: God wants you to! That alone should be all we need to motivate us. We should gather to listen to the Word, but also to teach one another, and to worship the Lord in unity. We were never intended to ‘do church’ in isolation.
My encouragement to you is, if you aren’t already, to get back into the habit of meeting together weekly with your people! Folks coming have said that what they’ve loved about being outside is that we can all be together in one service at one time.
One of the things I’ve loved about the two services we had pre-pandemic was at least being able to see each other and connect in between services, but outside we’ve been able to all be together at the same place and the same time! There is definitely something to be said for that.
Yes, there has been a world-altering event. However, the reality now is that the vast majority of our people at Clairemont Emmanuel have been vaccinated and it’s safe meeting outside and it will be safe to meet inside.
From everything the CDC has said, if you are vaccinated, you are as safe from getting COVID-19 as you are safe from anything else you’ve been vaccinated against, or even more! If you are not vaccinated, you can come and wear a mask if you like. We want people to feel just as free to wear a mask at church as to not wear one.
Some people have been honest enough to say to me that they’re afraid – they fear catching COVID-19. Even when they are vaccinated and can wear a mask, cutting their chances of contracting the disease to infinitesimal numbers, they still want to stay isolated from their church family. At some point, we all have to trust God, every day – whether it’s driving from point A to point B in your car or interacting with people.
If you’ve forced yourself to go to the store or Costco, Target, etc, then you can for sure force yourself (and should!) to get back into the discipline of making Sunday morning corporate worship a regular part of your weekly schedule.
I invite you to start this Sunday, before we move back inside, to join us for corporate worship. If you want to be warm, sit in the sun, and if it’s too sunny, sit on the top level in the shade. Options are there, but don’t miss out on what God intended for the church: to meet physically together if at all possible.
I know that some of you have very legitimate reasons to not come right now, but most don’t. Please, if I’m not aware of some extenuating circumstance(s) that you have going on, by all means, I want to be sensitive to your situation and I want to pray for you and so, if I’m not already, please make me aware of it. Please call me or text me.
I love you,
Kenny