It seems like just last week that we were studying 1 Peter 3:8, “Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.” The days of us needing to hear these words from God are far from over. Satan has done all he can to divide and discourage the church in the last 15 months and he hasn’t stopped.
Peter is describing what God’s family does – we pull together, especially when we’re being challenged and tested. We’re in a new series now called, “Beloved: Welcome to the family of God”. This Sunday we’ll look at the starting point of joining the family. You might ask “Where does family begin?” and our text is Ephesians 1:3,4. We ALSO have six people getting BAPTIZED on our first Sunday back inside!
As many of you know, major changes in COVID regulations were announced on Wednesday. According to the California state safety reopening guidelines, services are now allowed indoors without restrictions on singing, capacity, or distancing. We thank the Lord for that. In addition, preregistration and masking for vaccinated people are not required. We see this as a major praise to God and are looking forward to being together again indoors.
Unfortunately, there is a complicating wrinkle… Isn’t there always? The regulations also say that non-vaccinated people are still required to mask for indoor gatherings. This creates a problem because we believe each person has the right to make health choices based on their own convictions AND that those decisions should be private.
So here is what we’re asking – this Sunday we will give you the option to mask or not mask according to your vaccination status on the honor system. Since we’ve made a commitment to comply with these rules, if you are not vaccinated, then we expect you to wear a mask. That does not mean that everyone indoors who is wearing a mask is unvaccinated. I believe many who ARE vaccinated will continue to wear masks too. We will continue to use the highest masking and disinfection protocols in all our children’s ministries.
Some are still concerned about the safety of meeting together indoors. We understand and hope you will continue to join us outdoors on the grass or online for our livestream services. Some of you who are unvaccinated and cannot wear a mask are welcome to join us on the grass or online was well. You can find the live-stream of our worship service on our church’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/valleychurchca.
Our challenging days aren’t over, church family! We continue to need to be reminded, “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8). Love also more than covers diverse opinions, positions, and even many convictions, on subjects like masking and vaccinating. As Pastors and Elders we’re daily asking God for all of those elements in 1 Peter 3:8 to make good decisions about leading the church. Thank you for praying along with us.
Don’t forget we’ll have a “Family Meeting” on June 27th at 12:15 pm in the Activities Center to talk about all these changes and take a look at what lies ahead. I hope you can join us in person, but if you can’t, email info@valleychurch.org for the Zoom details to join the meeting online.
I’m looking forward to seeing you soon!
In Christ,
Kurt