COMMUNION UPDATE

The Board of Elders and Pastor have made the following adjustments with our communion service:

  • Hope will return to our regular order of communion service starting July 4, 2021.
  • A Notice of Filming and  Photography was posted May 13, 2021 on the doors and website to cover us for streaming the service.  Even so, people will not be filmed approaching the altar or receiving the Sacrament.

  •  Servers will still wear (surgical or homemade) masks while serving communion.

  • Servers will still use hand sanitizer before and after serving, but will not wear gloves.

  • The white tables have been removed. Both sides of the communion rail will be used as designed for the group being gathered at the table. The entire group will receive the invitation to the Lord's Table and dismissed when both sides have communed. Kneeling is again an option.

  • Bread will still be served with gold-plated long tongs.

  • Cups will be spaced out on the communion tray for people to pick their own as the tray is offered to them. Empty cups will continue to be placed in the baskets.

  • A new gold-plated common cup will be blessed for use on Sunday, July 4 and offered during the service. Pastor Ken will be purifying the rim using a cloth dipped in high proof ethanol between sips.

  • We will not resume singing communion hymns, but special music may be offered individually or by small groups.

COVID UPDATE

May 20, 2021

 

Dear members and friends of Hope,

 

Thanks and praise to God for His faithfulness in providing and leading us through a challenging year! I know we all as the family of Hope, yearn for the day when we can be free to interact and share with each other as freely as we once did, but for now we must remain careful and respectful in completing the trek through these pandemic days. With recent recommendations from the CDC we are hopeful we will soon be free to completely leave our masks behind if we wish.

 

For now the mask mandate in Minnesota is still in place for indoor activity and capacity and distancing requirements are to be dropped later this month. Since the CDC guidelines differ in these requirements our leadership concurs that we will not be requiring people who have been vaccinated to wear masks in our gatherings but will respect State distancing and capacity requirements. We also feel that the choice as to who should be wearing a mask should be left up to the individual.

 

Before God, we will remember that there are perfectly good reasons to remain cautious and supportive of those who either feel the need or are truly at risk and are safer and more content with a mask on. Do not let Satan have His way with your hearts and minds in thinking that these measures or requirements are a problem—they are not! Instead be led by the Spirit in love for your neighbor and friends that caring for their well-being in body, mind, and soul we pray for all those in need and give thanks that extend God’s grace to all corners!

 

We have been blessed to be able to meet for worshiping the study of God’s Word together since June last year and we will continue to be here for you when you are ready to return, but know that you are missed! We are really looking forward to return to the openness we once enjoyed but in the meantime, we will honor our Lord in the respect and care we show each other and remain in prayer over those things that have yet to change. Sunday, May 23rd, after service we will re-open the fellowship hall for gathering and fellowship with refreshments individually wrapped and provided by a single server. If there are individuals interested in providing for these occasions and have the necessary food certification, please contact Janice to arrange for a specific date.

 

Finally, none of the requirements have changed for our preschool. If you come to the facility between the hours of 8:30AM and 6:00PM please enter the building from the main entrance to be screened and check-in. Do not enter through the kitchen during the school day or enter the classrooms or spaces for the children at any other time. However, the last days of preschool operation this year are May 24th and 25th.

 

Faithfully in Christ,

Pastor Ken.