Friends, this is a difficult time for many reasons. Across our many differences, we share in some basic needs. 

We need safety. 

We need community. 

We need to talk to God and listen to what God might say to us.  

We need to take care of one another. 

In this moment, those needs are in great tension with one another. 

Our ad hoc Community Health Ministry Team and I have paid close attention to the latest information and recommendations coming directly from the Mayor’s Office, the Jefferson County Department of Public Health, the United Church of Christ, and reputable media organizations, as well as decisions by faith communities locally and nationally.  

I have prayerfully heard your concerns and your hopes about what we as a church will do. 

There are many different opinions and few easy decisions. 

Given all of these considerations, here’s where we are: at this time, Beloved plans to hold modified in-person 10 am Morning Prayer and Communion (with individually-packaged communion wafers & juice) and 5 pm Evening Worship services on Sunday, March 15. 

Both will take place downstairs in the Community Room, which will have been arranged to provide for the recommended social distancing – and we will observe careful non-contact protocols both with one another and with worship materials. We have cleaning supplies and will be using them throughout the day to ensure that everything remains sanitized. 

Let me know if you are coming and I will email you a bulletin that you can pull up on your phone or tablet. That will also allow me to contact you directly if something changes in this rapidly evolving context.

We recommend that the elders in our community, those who care for elders or other vulnerable populations, those with compromised immune systems, and anyone who has recently been or currently feels sick stay at home – and I am working to ensure that everyone who needs to hear that message does so.

Magic City Spiritual Community also plans to hold in-person worship this week at 1:30 pm in the Community Room. 

Aside from worship events by these two communities, the Beloved building will be closed to individuals and groups. All gatherings, both internal and external, are postponed until the threat from COVID-19 has abated. 

We have not yet made a decision about worship in future weeks, but will continue to keep you posted. 

We had already planned to begin a weekly 7 pm Monday Evening Prayer Zoom call on Monday, March 16 as a part of our Lenten observances. That will go on as scheduled, so keep an eye out for an invitation. 

We are also actively working on other online worship, fellowship, and study opportunities. You will be hearing more about those in the days ahead. 

No matter what, I and other members of the Clergy Ministry Team and Congregational Care Ministry Team will be checking in with you regularly in the days ahead – and please check in with one another.

Together — all of us — will create new space for meaningful engagement, even when that engagement happens by computer or by phone. 

We live in uncertain times, but we are faithful people. God is with us, even in the bleakest moments. And we go forward together in blessing, even when we are afraid. 

Remember that prayer can be a radical act in a time such as this.

Be kind to yourself and to others.

I’ll see some of you in worship and keep all of you in prayer.

peace and blessings, 

Rev. Jennifer Sanders