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Septuagesima

Please watch this video and see for yourself how some teachers in the public school think that parents are dangerous. They have openly expressed their fear that distance learning may expose their indoctrination efforts and stop them from subverting parental authority and recruiting children to perverse secular worldviews. The relevant portion of the video runs from 7:00-19:00 minutes.

Constantly changing circumstances and excellent attendance have required us to change our Sunday schedule. We will be having two services every Sunday morning to accommodate the needs of our members. We will have Bible Class and Sunday School in between services to ensure that more members can attend.

Beginning next Sunday, August 9^th, we will follow our new schedule,  continuing as long as needed. I have tried to accommodate everyone who has spoken with me, but there is not a perfect solution that will please everyone. I appreciate your patience as we try to offer more opportunities for worship and as we work though many changes in our country and life. Please know you are all in my prayers.

8:00am First Service (Outdoors)

9:15am Bible Class/Sunday School

10:30am Second Service

8:00am Service: This service is for those who need to take extra precautions. Masks are welcome, but not required outside for those who can spread out. When winter comes, and the weather does not permit us to be outdoors, we will move our 8:00am outdoor service inside. When indoors, we will not have congregational singing during this service. We ask those who come to this service to please wear a mask if they are able. The ushers will seat you with space needs in mind. This earlier time also will allow you use of the sanctuary before anyone else has been there.

Bible Class outdoors at 9:15am. Bring your Bibles and chairs or have a seat in your car. All members and their family are invited to attend. We will meet outside as the weather permits. When winter comes, we will move inside to the fellowship hall. Again, we will allow for plenty of space and I will wear a microphone.

Sunday School Classes will begin at 9:15am indoors in September. The teachers will have students reasonably spaced and make sure that needed precautions are taken.

Our second service will be inside at 10:30am. The ushers will continue to space people around the sanctuary. This will be a regular service with hymns.

Wednesday evening services will continue outdoors as long as weather permits. When winter comes, we will move this service back inside with due precautions.

Individual members or family communion: You are also encouraged to call and set up an appointment for individual or family communion as needed.

Please make time to be worshipping regularly with your brothers and sisters in Christ. During these chaotic and dark days, we need to come together more, not less.

Your Shepherd in Christ,

Pastor Palm+

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  Hebrews 13:8

Returning to Worship Plan

These protocols will be adjusted according to new guidance, new research, local developments and best practices.

Before public services:

Vulnerable persons… If you are in a high-risk category because of underlying health conditions or are 65+years of age, do not feel compelled to attend public worship services unless you are comfortable with the potential health risk. Guard your health.

Please stay home if you are ill or showing symptoms of Covid-19.

If someone in your household is ill, please stay home.

Recorded services will continue to be available on YouTube and sowerandtheseed.org. Pastor is glad to arrange Holy Communion by appointment.  If you are in any of the risk categories and still wish to attend services, you are certainly welcome to do so, being aware of the risks.

Wash your hands often. Frequent and thorough hand-washing is great prevention.

Observe “social distancing” and conventional sanitary practices.

Masks are suggested but not mandatory … Masks may be helpful for reducing transmission of viral particles from the person wearing a mask. If you do not want to wear a mask, you will not be turned away or shunned. 

Please be considerate of your neighbor’s wishes to wear/not wear a mask.  Our respectful and loving care for one another allows freedom in this matter.

Ventilation will be increased as much as possible and as weather permits.

While Rice County is considered a hotspot services will be held outside when weather permits

Arriving for Service:

Avoid direct physical contact with others.  If visiting before or after worship services, please do so outside while observing social distancing guidelines.

Hand sanitizers are set at the entrances to the building.   (Donations are welcome!)

Doors from the parking lot will be open until service begins, for touch-less entry.

Seating is determined by the usher, who will keep persons / families safely distanced.  Pews have been marked with reserved signs to help keep one or more pews between families.

Bulletins will be placed in the pews, but will also be available by the usher.

During the Service:

Singing will be limited indoors. Singing is not listed as a hazard by the CDC, but some are concerned that singing, when forceful, projects more aerosols.

The Offering Plate won’t be passed; place your gift to the Lord in the plate as you enter / exit.

Communion will take place as persons are led forward socially-distanced by individuals and family groups. Please cup your hand, as the elder will drop the wafer into your hand. The wine will be served only by individual cups. (Sharing common cup bears the stigma of being unsanitary, even though the reception by common cup is a totally antiseptic process; so, for the present, we will only provide individual cups for those coming forward.)

Children who come forward with parents will be blessed without touch.

Music may be played during Communion. We welcome soloists or musicians to volunteer.

After the Service:

Pastor will not be greeting or dismissing with the customary shaking of hands.

Likewise, don’t shake hands, hug, or touch people who are outside your household. 

Visiting with others should be done outside, observing appropriate social distancing.

In addition to offering public worship services:

1.  We will continue to offer recorded services.

2.  We will continue to offer family communion services by appointment.

3.  You are encouraged to continue to develop and strengthen your personal devotional and prayer life and that of your immediate household using online, TV, and print resources.

4.  Please continue to pray for one another, for our congregation, and for your pastor.

5.  Please also pray for our leaders, our medical personnel, and for our community.

The Bible calls us to exercise Christian liberty, for ourselves and others. Martin Luther said that “A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.” In other words, we should recognize our God-given freedoms, but at the same time have great care for the rights and well-being other people.  Please refrain from forming opinions about others in terms of whether or not they attend in-person services or whether or not they wear a face mask.  The above are precautions that have been provided as best practices at this time.

It is a blessing that we can gather together to receive the forgiveness of sins personally and directly through the Word and Sacrament ministry.

At this time we will continue drive-in services at 8:30am on Sunday mornings, with in-person services at 10:30am on Sunday and 7:00pm on Wednesday.

Our highest desire is for the spiritual care of our members and visitors with a conscientious desire for the physical care of our members and visitors also.

As your pastor, I will gladly visit congregation members in their home and/or bring the Lord’s Supper. Please call me (507-685-2307) with any questions or concerns, or if you’d like a personal visit, for yourself or someone else.

In our Lord’s Prayer, we ask our Heavenly Father to “deliver us from evil.” Sometimes God delivers us not by removing the affliction but rather by giving us the strength to endure it. There is no safe place or safe practice in this world that guarantees we will be free from exposure to viruses, sickness, or death, even if we take the most thorough of precautions. 

Our confidence is never in the safety of personal protocols or practices of isolation. Our trust is in our God who is bold enough to make these promises in Scripture: “Though the LORD brings grief, He will show compassion, so great is His unfailing love” (Lamentations 3:32). 

We now have the opportunity again to public meet, receive the blessing and forgiveness of

God, encourage one another with the Gospel of Christ, and receive His body and blood to support our faith and grant it divine strength.  Public worship services are again being offered our members and the visitors in our community, but they are not compulsory. 

“I love the house where You live, O LORD, the place where your glory dwells.” (Psalm 26:6-8)

May God grant us peace and joy in Him!

May our Lord keep us in His mercy. Amen.