As we enter into this week of Thanksgiving, I want to start by thanking you. We have been navigating an unexpected and difficult year of life and faith as we have encountered the COVID-19 pandemic. You all have approached the circumstances we face with grace and understanding as we, under Bishop McKee’s direction, moved to worshipping online only for a number of months. Once we returned to in-person worship, you have been faithful to the protocols our Reopening Team established to allow us to gather together once again. We know worship with these protocols is less than ideal and we thank you for your observance of these protocols in this time in which we need to exercise great care for one another.
It is with this concern for one another in mind, I share the most recent decision we have made. As you know, the CDC is encouraging people not to travel during the Thanksgiving holiday and has explained that while so-called super spreader events exacerbate the spread of COVID-19, the most frequent way people contract the disease and it is spread is in small, indoor gatherings, usually with friends and family in someone’s home. You also know we are in the midst of a dramatic spike in the COVID-19 infection and hospitalization rates.
Due to these factors, we are suspending in-person worship for, at least, the two Sundays following Thanksgiving. This will provide a buffer for us, should the coronavirus be transmitted in any Thanksgiving gatherings, as we try to prevent the arrival of what is called replication-competent virus into our worship space. Coronavirus, which has impacted the German International School of Dallas which meets in our southern wing, is simply not the advent we long for in this holiday season.
So we will prepare to, hopefully, be able to return to in-person worship on December 13. Trust me when I tell you this is as disappointing for us as it is for you. But, as we near Advent, we can rest assured that a newness is promised to us in Christ when all is said and done.
Grace and peace,
Rev. J.D. Allen
Senior Pastor
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