Christmas 2021
Dear Siblings+ in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father, from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and from our Comforter and Counselor the Holy Spirit! Amen.
As we prepare to gather and worship on Christmas Eve, I’d like to offer you some guidance:
The greater Washington D.C. region has seen news reports about the delta and omicron numbers and related goings-on. With the fluid nature of the virus I assume you’re aware that we’re all taking a bit of calculated personal risk as we gather together in-person. This is certainly not meant to alarm you, but to speak in reality. In these unusual times, I will neither encourage you nor discourage you to come to an in-person Christmas service. In more normal circumstances, of course I would, but I don’t want to pressure you, in any manner. 4 in-person services are available, if you prayerfully decide to come. The 7:30 pm service will be livestreamed and recorded, if you desire to stay put in your homes, which many in our community have already told me they plan on doing.
Our worship team, including musicians, will do our very best to help make this a memorable Christmas Eve. However, we are nowhere near our full complement of singers and instrumentalists, nor the usual cadre of other worship team members. Understandably, not all feel comfortable being involved in the choir loft. If even one of our worship team members, including a musician who has been rehearsing with us, tests positive for COVID-19 or has been exposed to the virus, the choir loft for Christmas Eve at the 7:30 p.m. or 10:00 p.m. could be near-empty. We might then offer anthems/hymns that have been recorded in the past by our musicians for Christmas Eve. We’re confident that our new projection system will provide excellent video but less confident about the audio system in the sanctuary, which is about to get an overhaul, soon, pending generous contributions to our Above & Beyond stewardship program.
On Christmas Eve, our usual in-person attendance is about 800-1000 for the combined services. I would estimate that our attendance will be around 400-600 this time around, depending on the COVID-19 numbers reported near Christmas Eve, among other factors. I’m sure our virtual and podcast attendance will dwarf any of those numbers, as it did last year; we thank God for our considerable online presence, enabling our sharing of the Good News. The 7:30 p.m. will be the most attended of the 4 in-person services, so if you’re concerned about distancing, then you may want to sign up for another service or change your registration on signup genius, if you’ve already registered.
In any event I’ll be at church on Christmas Eve from about noon to midnight to celebrate the birth of the Risen One and prepare for His second coming with you, in-person and through cyberspace!
Peace and Goodwill to you!
Pastor Johann
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