To the people of the Northwest Intermountain Synod,
Attached to this letter you will find a substantial document focused on how to reopen our congregations safely. We are grateful for Rev. Brad Munroe, Executive Presbyter of the Presbyteries of Grand Canyon and de Christo, for sharing with us the work his Presbyteries did in preparation for re-opening. We have taken that document and edited it for our contexts. We have also taken a checklist that is contained within the body of the document and sent it as a separate document to make it easier for you to find and use. I strongly encourage you to review the entire document, and to distribute it to your congregation members so that everyone knows the criteria that leadership is using to establish safe parameters around worship. We understand that many of us are on "information overload" and made great effort in making this document as succinct as possible. But with the rapidity of change around COVID-19 and the pace of information development: even just providing relevant information necessitates a lengthy document. You are strongly encouraged to monitor your local health departments and know that as long as cases in your county are continuing to rise: it is not safe to break shelter in place for worship. There will need to be a two-week span of declining new cases before you can begin to consider in-person worship with strict precautions in place. Some of our counties will reach this benchmark before others. I want to also remind you that government representatives are not always medical representatives. I encourage you to listen to medical professionals around this as you discern the right decisions for your worshiping community.
I want to be clear: I do not believe it is safe for the majority of our synod to make the move to in-person worship at this time. My staff and I have spent many hours on video calls with virologists, leading epidemiologists, fellow adjudicatory heads across denominations, the other bishops in the ELCA, pooling information together to try and make the best decisions for guiding our congregations in these times. Everything that I have heard and learned leads me to believe that there is no safe way to gather for in-person worship at this time. The polity of the ELCA is such that I cannot prevent a congregation from choosing to resume worship in person, however I feel like you should know that if I did have that authority: I would continue to exercise it in these days. To me, the pain of continuing to hold off on in person worship longer is worth being able to engage in worship together safely when we do regather.
Like many of you, my heart yearns for in-person worship. However, I want to remind all of us that what we will go back to will not be what we left behind in March. We will return to services with social distancing, no singing, no sacraments, no touching, no fellowship, or coffee hour--none of the things that we actually miss about worship will be possible. Because what I miss is being surrounded by the People of God. And right now: people are not safe. We will have to wear masks and limit the number of people allowed in worship--how do we wrap our minds around telling people they cannot come into God's House? CAN God's House be "too full"? It would appear that in the time of COVID-19 the answer is yes, and part of me wonders if we should refrain from in-person worship until we can truly welcome all who want to come. But because no one knows how far away that time is: it is probably not the most practical solution. We will not have the jubilant, celebratory return to corporate worship that we all dreamed of at the beginning of this time. We will have cautious returns. Small groups at first (and how do you decide who gets to come to church when? First come, first serve? Lottery? Alphabetical order?). If that is safe, slightly larger groups. If the numbers spike, we will return to smaller numbers, or no church at all. How will we mitigate the risk our worship leaders will be taking on by doing multiple small services? What about our pastors and deacons who are part of the population most at-risk for contracting COVID-19 due to age or underlying health issues--should they be expected to risk their lives for in-person worship? I don't think they should. So how do we minister to those who minister to us? And again, the grimmest question I've ever had to ask as a religious leader, "Who's life is the price worth paying for being together?" Think of your congregation, those you love and miss so much. Which one of them is worth losing in order to have in-person worship?
I have spent a lot of time wondering what God is teaching us in this time. "All things work to the good of those who love God and are called according to God's purpose." So, what good might God be bringing out of all this fear and pain and loneliness? What are we learning together as a church that we will need to have for what will come next? Is it possible that rushing back to a lackluster worship service isn't what God would want for us? Is it possible that learning to put the needs of others to be kept safe ahead of our needs to engage in risky behavior (and make no mistake: in-person worship is risky behavior, no matter what precautions you take) is going to bear fruit in ways we cannot even begin to guess? What could God do with a Church that has learned that it isn't about personal preference, but the good of the whole Body of Christ? I encourage you to enter this time with a spirit of curiosity about what will come after, rather than an urgency to return to what was--what was is gone. It was taken quickly, and without warning. Take the time to grieve what is gone, so that we can take hold of what God has waiting for God's church when it arrives. Because while there is much I do not know about these times, I have chosen to lay the foundations of what comes next on the promises of God, who tells us to not be afraid, to be wise as serpents and gentle as doves, who vows to never leave us or forsake us, who has defeated death and constantly sings life and light into the world. Perhaps this is the Lazarus moment for the Church--perhaps, just perhaps, if we stop shouting to go back to what was, we will hear the voice of Jesus calling us to "come out!" into a world that has changed in so many ways, but in the ways that truly matter: is as solid as it ever was. This has been my prayer for myself, and for all of you these days.
All of the states that contain our synod are introducing phased plans of "re-opening". Government leaders are offering many caveats that if numbers of COVID-19 cases rise, the phased plan will be pulled back. Indeed, in many parts of the country further along in the process of re-opening than our synod is: those numbers are going up. It is not unreasonable to expect to see the same thing happen as we begin to cautiously re-engage life outside of sheltering in place. I have been cautioned by many medical professionals that we are in "the second inning of a nine-inning game". Regardless of what happens, it seems this life-altering event is far from over. Kyrie eleison!
Beloved ones, please stay safe. Know that you are held tightly in my prayers in these endless days. Know that I look forward to nothing more than I look forward to being together with you, back on the road, driving through our synod so that I can be with you in worship. Until the day that I can tell you in person, know that God continues to accompany us, to lead us, and to be faithful to us even as we are not gathering physically together. May the peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Amen.
Bishop Kristen Kuempel
Visit nwimsynod.org/reopen-guidelines to access the Guidelines and Appendices.