Dear Cautious Congregators:

Subject to change, on Sunday, May 2, some of us will be in the Sanctuary for worship at 10:00 a.m. It won’t be back to normal; the service will be shorter, there will be no bulletins and we will ask you to hum rather than sing. Additionally, masks, distancing, hand sanitizer, attendance taking and directional traffic flow will be commended. There will be no coffee or snacks and no nursery service. Folks who wish to gather for conversation will be instructed to do so outdoors.

To ensure your seat, since we will have a capacity of 50 people, you can make an online reservation through this SignUp Genius link. You may also call the Church Office at 708.354.0771 or send an email to admin@fpclg.org to reserve a spot, or just arrive around 10:00 a.m. on Sunday to inquire with an usher whether there is additional seating available. The service will be livestreamed at 10:00 a.m., and sometime on Sunday afternoon an edited version of the recording will be online for those who are unable to attend. We will no longer be providing “produced” video services. If our services are “oversubscribed,” we will, the following week, provide a second service. Please check the church website, www.FPCLG.org, for additional information. Other than that, it will be business as usual.

How long will these restrictions be in place? I could send you to Matthew 24.36 for the answer to that question, but to be more precise, the restrictions will subside with the infection rate numbers.

The major reason we are maintaining such strict policies is that we are NOT restricting attendance based on vaccinations. We strongly encourage everyone to receive whatever vaccine is available to them at the earliest possible opportunity. Those who are hesitant about being vaccinated are commended to speak with a medical professional about their reservations. We know the decision regarding vaccination is personal, and the availability of vaccine remains somewhat limited, so we will all behave as if there are unvaccinated worshipers in our Sanctuary, and we will work to keep you safe.

For more than a year I’ve had the chance to muse regarding the value of in-person worship. What is it about gathering that the Church holds so dear? If we just show up to see old friends and share in the camaraderie of shared space and time, then we are nothing more than a restaurant without food or cover charge.

We gather because, in this space and time, we reinforce by God’s Spirit our mutual care and respect for one another and Christ’s invitation to forgiveness and grace. Church should never be easy, because it is not like other familiar assemblies. It is a project where difference does not automatically mean separation. We are all encouraged to create a safe space for everyone—spiritually, emotionally and physically. In this imperfect world, balancing our desire to be together with our need to be safe has not been easy.

Moving forward, I invite you to hear Paul’s words to the church in Philippi perhaps in a whole new way. He wrote in chapter 2, verses 3-5, 13-15:

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,… for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without murmuring and arguing, so that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine like stars in the world.

Pray that we may shine like stars in the newly forming constellation of a re-emerging congregation. With gratitude for who we are and joyful anticipation of who we are becoming, I remain,

With Love,
Jonathan Krogh
Your Pastor