COVID-19: August 7 Update from Co-EP Scott Lumsden
Seattle Presbytery
Dear Friends,
I pray that as we head into the heart of summer, you are doing well and maybe even getting a bit of a break from your daily routine (previously known as a vacation). Mid July, I was able to enjoy a week of hiking with my two daughters, and even though we hit some serious snow (enough to force us off the trail), the change of scenery and the time together was quite rejuvenating.
It seems that small breaks now (or real breaks from work even if you don’t go anywhere) are the name of the game as far as trying to maintain our mental and emotional health during this pandemic. So I’d encourage you, if you don’t already do so to take a regular sabbath -- and an extended one when you can. And as always, feel free to reach out to Eliana or me (Scott) if you need a preacher. If we can’t do it, we know many who can.
As we turn our attention to the fall, it must be acknowledged that the progress we made by flattening the curve seems now to have been lost to an increase in new cases. Sure, they are slowly going down again, but this reality makes whatever plans we were making for the fall and winter quite challenging as we try to balance expectations versus reality.
In this vein, we’ve gotten many questions about building related issues -- not just related to returning for worship -- but for building use for the congregation’s programs and by outside groups. To address this we asked our attorney’s office to craft a document that defines best practices around building use guidelines.
If you would like a copy of our Building Use Guidelines, please email EJ and we’ll email it to you. It’s designed to be a template for your session to customize and then adopt as their building use policy (if you don’t already have one).
We continue to pray for our congregations as they navigate these important times. Let’s stay connected. (1 Cor 12:12)
Scott Lumsden
Co-Executive Presbyter