Phase 4 Updates | Reuniting St. Luke's

Reuniting St. Luke’s Task Force Update

05 October 2020 Read the full Phase 4 guidelines, including precautions for in-person outdoor worship at this link.The Reuniting St. Luke’s Task Force met via Zoom on Sept. 29 to discuss possibilities for fall and winter worship, small group activities, and review fall survey results. Fifteen individuals completed the survey compared to thirty-six for our summer survey. After reviewing survey feedback, the task force recommended to Council that the majority of the recommendations from Phase 3.5 remain. We recommend that this updated Phase 3.5 become our Phase 4. Council approved the recommendations of the Reuniting St. Luke's Task Force, including:

• The task force recommended that online worship continue to be the priority.
• We also recommended that outdoor worship be allowed to take place periodically for special occasions and festivals (holidays). The first possibility for an outdoor worship service would take place on Sunday, Oct. 25. This service would observe Reformation Sunday and allow for a leave taking from the Armitage space. Outdoor worship would be livestreamed for those who could not attend in-person.
• After consideration, the task force continues to recommend that small groups meet outdoors when meeting in- person. We encourage creative ways to meet into the fall and winter seasons such as meeting around fire pits or heat lamps along with appropriate clothing. We also added additional language that could aid in contact tracing for groups that met in-person.
• Select small gatherings may be permitted to meet indoors at Wrightwood/Kimball on an as needed basis only and must be scheduled through Administrative Assistant Claire Schoepp (office@stlukesls.org). For the moment this will most likely be limited to moving and housewarming/renovating needs.

These recommendations create a living document that will continue to be reviewed and updated as we learn more about the virus. The task force will meet again in January to assess our needs.Read the full Phase 4 guidelines, including precautions for in-person outdoor worship at this link.We know that these guidelines might be disappointing. We miss going to church and seeing each other. It is especially difficult to think about keeping the Advent and Christmas seasons with limited opportunities to gather. However, our faith tells us that loving our neighbor and ourselves is not always easy and at times, it may require us to release our desires and preferences in favor of God's abundant life.In the meantime, know that St. Luke's will continue to find creative ways to worship, build community, and serve the world that God loves.Sincerely,The Reuniting St. Luke’s Task ForceMarit Johnson | Andrew Malone | Genevieve Wasser | Laura Wilhelm | Pastor Erin Coleman Branchaud