COVID-19 Update March 24, 2021

 Good morning,

It's been a while since we've made any updates to our COVID-19 guidelines as a church. We've largely been in a holding pattern for the better part of a year, but in the last few weeks, we've seen some encouraging progress in these trying times.

From data collected by SCDHEC updated this week, the percentage of persons testing positive for COVID-19 in South Carolina has decreased to 4.8%.   The CDC states that the community spread is under control if the percent positive is under 5%.  Although the percent positive rate is trending favorably at this time, it is possible that another spike may hit the US in the coming weeks.  

In addition to the decrease in the present the percent positive in our area, vaccine availability has opened to the point where the majority of our in-person worship attendees have received at least one vaccine if not both doses or are eligible to do so:

We are on a great path towards returning to a more normal worship experience! Thank you to everyone for your efforts in stopping the spread of COVID-19.

Although we are anxious to return to what was before COVID a year ago, we must take a measured approach.  At this time, it is recommended by the CDC that we continue wearing masks and maintain social distance protocols while there are non-vaccinated individuals in our midst. However, with a decrease in the percent positive in our community and the increase in individuals receiving vaccines, I have spent some time thinking and praying about a gradual return to singing and other activities as a church. While these are projected changes, we’ll continue to monitor and adjust, responding to the needs of the community, data available to us and recommendations from our denominational leadership. Here are some thoughts on the matter: 

1.     As our music leadership is able and sees fit, we may have soloists or duets leading special music in worship.  Soloists can sing without a mask but should wear a mask at all other times in worship.  

2.    Easter - We will have some congregational hymns starting on Easter, but we will have to maintain the use of masks in order to make this change. Additionally, the living cross may be used but should be located outside for individuals to “flower” the cross before and after the service on Easter. 

3.    We ask everyone to continue maintaining social distance and wearing masks to diligently prioritize our health as a community.  

5.    Continue to monitor the CDC’s guidelines for mask wearing, social distancing and singing as we move forward in making the best decisions for our church family.  

6.    Additional activities and small groups determinations will be made at the recommendations of Administrative Council. Until our next meeting, assume the guidelines to be the same unless otherwise noted. 

As we continue to make strides as a local, state, national and global community, let’s continue to do our part in keeping one another safe as we live into the call of our lives to discipleship and kingdom building. 

 Mallory

Steps to Re-gathering

The following letter was approved by our Administrative Council as our guidelines for resuming in-person worship.

Friends,

As we see the world around us take steps to resume some level of activity, we are making similar steps at Belair and Osceola. In order to do this, we are working on several things. An ad hoc committee (Barry Moore, Luther Wilson, Tommy Broome, Judy Anderson, Jim Burch, Jerry Murphy, Mallory Nickerson) has been formed to help in making recommendations for both congregations. The following is lengthy and contains a great deal of information, but I encourage you to read fully and thoroughly. 

In order to safely reenter common space, we need to secure enough cleaning supplies and hand sanitizer to thoroughly cover the area for an extended period of time. We are working to secure those items now. We will minimize things we touch to the best of our ability. The pew racks will be emptied, doors will be propped open, etc. 

When we return, we will be maintaining recommended social distancing guidelines. That means we will have to be deliberate about seating within our sanctuaries. You will likely come in to find areas marked for seating and others marked off to avoid. That will mean that we will have to commit to shaking off some of our old habits of seating in order to gather. I ask that you be gracious and patient with me and with each other as we make this strange, new space.

We will be encouraging the wearing of masks when we gather. Many people have their own masks, and if you have masks in which you are most comfortable, we encourage you to wear those. We are working to provide cloth masks for those who do not have their own. 

Some elements of worship will be different for a time. From the SC Conference resource “Reset Restart Renew”: “There seems to be ample evidence to suggest that singing creates a quantity of fine aerosols that can stay suspended in the air for long periods of time, move with air currents, and stay infectious for many hours, exposing virtually everyone in a building. Medical, science and public health experts strongly recommend against singing indoors in public until a vaccine is widely available and widely used.” Because of this, we will avoid singing, both congregationally and as a choir. I will be working with our musicians as we navigate this reality. 

We won’t be passing offering plates, so collection of tithes and offerings will be done as you enter or exit. You may continue to mail in or use the lockboxes, at your discretion. We’ll be asking that you not linger in the sanctuary to fellowship. 

While our fellowship is vital to our life as a community of faith, doing so in close proximity is a risk. You’ll be encouraged to move outside at the conclusion of the service, where you may certainly greet one another from appropriate and safe distances. 

Bishop Holston has asked us to avoid communion until there is a safe way to administer the sacrament. We will follow that directive.

We will focus on resuming worship first. We will not resume Sunday School or other in-person small group activities until we are confident we’re doing a good job in our time and space of worship. There are ways which we can connect virtually and by phone, and I will gladly help anyone who wishes to do so come up with best plans and options for doing that. 

Many among our congregation are at a greater risk for contracting COVID-19 and having more dangerous reactions to the virus. We know that many will need to continue at home for a while, either until the virus spread has been better mitigated or until a vaccine is publicly available. As your pastor, I certainly encourage you to do so, as your health and safety is paramount. Knowing this, we will definitely continue to offer recordings and online worship in some form. I am working through our best options for this and will communicate what that will look like when I know more. 

If we can secure the conditions mentioned in this letter, and if no “hot spots” of the virus emerge in our area, we will plan to resume in-person worship on June 14. Watch your email for the official word on this. I will send something out by June 11 to let you know our plan for that Sunday. 

Pray for our churches and the church universal as we seek to move forward together. We are engaging these challenges, seeking God’s wisdom and committing ourselves to expression of the love of neighbor in our midst. 

God’s peace be with us all,

Mallory

COVID-19 Update April 23, 2020

Good morning, friends,

As we work through our response to the COVID-19 circumstances of our lives, we make decisions in increments of time. Some things are evaluated day by day, some things week by week, and some things month by month. In our last update about activities and in-person worship, we set the end of April as our re-evaluation point. 

As we have now reached that point, it’s time to make another incremental decision. We’re going to extend our time of physical distancing through May 17, at this point. We’ll re-evaluate again as we get closer. 

The reality of our life together as a congregation is that many of us are part of the most vulnerable population with regard to this illness. There are helpful resources being made available to pastors in this time about questions to ask and provisions to make, and I’m monitoring those things and our ability to realize them. 

So, for the next few weeks, we are going to continue in the way we have been. We will not have any in-person gatherings, including worship. I’ll remind you of what I said in my first update when this all started. We talk a lot about what we can’t do in these times, but let’s focus on what we can do. 

We can call one another, send notes to one another, and above all, pray for one another. We can continue to worship virtually. We can be the church, even though we are scattered. We can be the community of faith as expressed through Belair and Osceola United Methodist Churches, even when we aren’t face to face. 

When we covenant to be part of the church, we promise to support the church by our prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness, that in everything God may be glorified. I know you are a praying people and I implore you to continue in this way. While presence looks very different right now, it's no less important. We are being called to be present to God, and present in solidarity with our community. Gifts are employed in all manner of ways. We know that financial needs of the church continue and I commend you for the ways you've been attending to those by mail or drop-off. Gifts of sewing have produced masks for volunteers. Gifts of leadership have kept the wheels turning in our life together. You have amazed me in your hearts for service, continuing the essential services we offer, reaching out to parts of our community in deepest need. In the days ahead, we'll certainly be seeing more of those places for us to reach out. And finally, friends, you are witnesses to the God who loves us and bears our burdens with us. You are witnesses to the love and mercy of Christ. Let our witness be a beacon of hope in a hurting world. And may God be glorified.

May God’s peace continue to be with you and with us all.

Mallory

Coronavirus Update March 19 2020

Hello all,

As we continue in our altered schedules, I want to let you know that the online worship service is coming together. It will be available by a video link on our websites. We're working to have it ready for Sunday morning. You'll be able to access it on both Osceola's and Belair's websites (http://osceolaumcsc.org and https://www.belairumchurchsc.org). This won't be a live worship service, so you can access it anytime after Sunday morning, but if you want to watch at the time you normally worship, that would certainly be appropriate and help all of us have a sense that we're gathering together. If you know of someone who cannot access the internet, send me an email and I'll see what I can do to help. 

Also on the websites, you'll find a "news" tab, where you can find the emails I have sent out. Any updates will be sent both by email and posted there. 

This may go without saying, but even as we suspend activities, the financial needs of the church go on. I encourage you to continue giving, as you are able, in these strange and unprecedented circumstances by mail or by dropping your tithes at the church. At Osceola, our mailbox operates as a lockbox. At Belair, there is a lockbox on the wall outside the office door. 

Finally, I urge you to continue being a church family. Make time to call on check on one another and your other neighbors. Though we are physically distant, let's keep the spirit of closeness in our community. 

Peace,

Mallory

Coronavirus Update March 16, 2020

Friends,

This afternoon, I listened to the White House Coronavirus briefing and I’ve reached a place of deep conviction. I was struck by the words of Dr. Deborah Birx who is a part of the White House Task Force. She said that while at this time, we don’t have medical interventions for prevention or treatment of COVID-19, what we do have is the “amazing ingenuity and compassion of the American people.” She appealed to the American people to avoid gathering in groups of more than 10 people. She addressed the different numbers we’re hearing. Some recommendations have said no groups over 100, some say no groups over 50. When questioned about her recommendation of even smaller groups, she clarified the way a virus spreads and the great impact we can have by separating ourselves physically. And then she said, “If everyone in America does what we ask for over the next 15 days, we will see a dramatic difference...” 

One of my great convictions is that the church does not stand outside the community but is rather called to offer leadership to and with the community.  We cannot be reactive and fearful, but we must be responsive and responsible in the face of what challenges the whole world today. We must be leaders willing to be still, willing to lead with a deep sense of community responsibility. It’s such an odd feeling to ask for our sense of community to look like staying away from each other, but in this case, that’s exactly what I’m asking. 

This past Sunday, our first scripture reading came from 1 Kings 19. Elijah, Israel’s great prophet went to the mountain of God to wait for him there. He was looking for God and expected to find God’s presence in a mighty wind, in an earthquake, and in a fire. But then there was “a sound of sheer silence” and when Elijah heard that, he heard the voice of God. What a strange thing, God showing up in a still and quiet moment. Friends, I’m asking us to be still, and for that stillness to be a witness to our faith. Not fear and frenzy, but stillness and calmness. And I pray that in that still, quiet place, we may hear God’s voice speaking to us. 

For now, my conviction is to do the next right thing. And I believe that the next right thing is to comply with the requests of the ones who are leading us through this time. We will not gather for public worship on March 22 or March 29. We’ll make further determinations after those dates based upon the recommendations available at that time. I am working on a plan to record my sermons and to provide a guide to worship. I cannot tell you exactly what that looks like at this moment, I can promise you I’m working on it. Look for additional information in the next couple of days about how we can all participate in worship and prayer as a community of faith even as we remain in our separate homes. 

Finally, let me reiterate a few things. Do not hesitate to reach out if you find yourself in need. If you need groceries, if you need someone to talk to, if you are in need, period. Call each other. Be in prayer for one another. What a powerful witness of the abiding presence of Christ we can be for one another in such a time as this!

Peace,
Mallory

Coronavirus Update March 13, 2020

Hello sisters and brothers of Belair and Osceola,

In times of chaos (or at least what seems like it) one of the things we can do is respond clearly, calmly, and proactively. As you are no doubt aware, fears of the severity of COVID-19 and the impact the virus may have are beginning to have a greater effect on communities, including ours. 

This virus is causing disruption and inconvenience to millions and changing the ways schools, medical facilities and businesses are operating in the short-term not to mention those who have become critically ill or died. For many of us, it seems like an inconvenience and for others, they are facing catastrophic change in their lives. What may seem like an overreaction is a risk with far less consequence than not being properly prepared to respond to the spread of illness. 

As I monitor the ever-changing situation, I do so with prayer and in consultation with leadership from the conference and in our local churches. Bishop Holston released a statement Thursday afternoon in which he encouraged local churches to begin proactive response in accordance with recommendations we are receiving from the CDC and other relevant organizations. He, along with conference leadership, recommend that we suspend non-worship activities and begin to practice “social distancing” where we can. 

In line with these recommendations, there are some changes we will make, but I urge you to remember this is also a time for the church to be the disciples of Christ for the transformation of the world. After we list what we are stopping or changing, we list the ways we can be the church in this crisis.

At this time, we WILL still plan on having our normal weekly worship service. However, we will suspend, for the time being, non-worship events and meetings. We will not have Family Night next week, Thursday morning and evening Bible study will be postponed, and Osceola UMW will not meet. Other specific events will be determined on a case by case basis with our best efforts at discernment through prayer and conversation. We will be in communication when schedules resume.

So, as we consider the things we won’t be doing, let’s also consider the things we will be doing. 

We WILL continue to operate the Food Pantry as scheduled because when crisis strikes, the most vulnerable in our community remain the most vulnerable. We want to ensure those in need of food can receive it. We will be meeting next week to make adjustments to our client interactions and potential exposure even as we continue to do this important work. If you volunteer in the Food Pantry and are not comfortable attending, please do not feel pressured to be there. 

As many in our community, including the immunocompromised, begin to self-isolate to limit the possibility of exposure to COVID-19, they may have to spend more time alone. Let us covenant not to let anyone be emotionally isolated even as they are physically isolated. Check on one another with calls, drop notes, be one another’s family. Pray for one another, for our anxieties, for our health, for all our well-being. Let’s especially be in prayer for those who have been affected directly, for those who are ill, for families who have lost loved ones. Pray for our medical personnel who are seeking to respond decisively and quickly. Pray for our local, state, and national governments as they offer leadership. I know we may disagree with their decisions but let us pray that they, and we too, would be wise in our decision-making.

In all things, friends, let us be prayerful. And know that the God who made us is the God who loves us, who sustains us, who calms our fears. May God be with us now and always.

Peace,

Mallory