News About Our Return to Worship.

Good afternoon, friends and family!

As promised a few weeks ago, Redeemer is cautiously and excitedly moving towards a return to gathered worship in Word and Sacrament on Pentecost Sunday, May 31^st. I cannot express to you how enthusiastic I am about this. I hope you are too!

This letter will be the first of three communications from the church, which we hope orient you to how this plan will work. As you read, please keep in mind that this plan has placed a high value on the safety and care of those who choose to attend. Therefore, several aspects are less than ideal. At the same time, the Session believes that this plan provides us with an excellent opportunity for safe and in-person worship.

The Plan

Starting May 31, 2020, Redeemer will conduct three identical worship services at 8 a.m., 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Due to guidelines set forth by our governor, the seating capacity of the congregation will be limited to 40% or roughly 177 worshippers. To ensure that all members, regular attenders and potential visitors have equal opportunity to attend worship, the congregation has been divided into six groups. Each group will be able to attend a service every other week. Subsequently, these groups will rotate through the service times in a forward rotation, which will repeat thereafter. Consistent with the preceding weeks, the 11:00 a.m. worship service will be live-streamed on Facebook, YouTube and the Redeemer website for those not scheduled for public worship or who do not desire to gather publicly. The bulletin will also continue to be posted online at redeemersa.org/Live.

With the exception of Training in the Pews and the suspension of the Redeemer nursery, all elements will continue. However, to practice safe social-distancing we will adjust our practices of seating, the Greeting of Peace, The Eucharist, the Offering and entry and exit of the sanctuary.

Upon arrival, we are asking that all congregants remain in their vehicles until the church doors open, which will be ten minutes prior to each service. Entry will be restricted to the doors located in the large glassed foyer fronting Baltimore and St. Mary’s streets. Greeters will help you locate a seat in the sanctuary on alternating rows, ensuring that at least two seats are between each family unit. Your bulletin will be distributed prior to the service and safely placed on usable rows.

During the Greeting of Peace, members should not express affection for one another in the typical ways, but limit interactions to an encouraging word. While we will continue to come forward for communion, the elements will be contained in stacked cups amply spaced in each tray. One will contain a commercially prepared wafer and the other will contain either wine or grape juice. The offering will be collected through collection boxes located at each sanctuary door. You are asked to offer your gifts after receiving communion upon returning to your seat.

At the conclusion of each service, congregants will be dismissed in an orderly fashion. The left half of the sanctuary will exit by rows from front to back through the front side doors. The right half of the sanctuary will exit by rows from back to front through the rear side doors. No exit will be allowed through the double back doors. Worshippers will then exit the building through one of the two exits fronting Lexington Ave.

My First Opportunity

Like you, my family is eager to know what will be my first opportunity to come to worship. I’m glad to inform you that Pastor Brad Tubbesing will share that information via an email later today. So keep checking your email! It is important, however, for you to know that you will only be able to attend the service you are assigned. If it is not your week to attend or you are not ready to return to in-person worship services, we ask that you worship remotely. If you’re relatively new to Redeemer and would like to be assigned to a worship service, please email Pastor Tubbesing directly so that we can secure you a spot.

Our Shared Expectation

As I indicated a few weeks ago, though we are returning to gathered worship we are not returning to the way things were. We are still negotiating the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is critical that we conduct ourselves in a way consistent with the grace and mercy shown to us in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Regardless of the plan we have adopted, there is no perfect plan. So, let’s start praying now that charity, humility, patience and sacrifice will characterize our relationships and the spirit of the worship services we enjoy, remembering that it’s the Lord we have come to worship rather than satisfying ourselves first and foremost.

In addition to this counsel, your Session specifically asks you to observe the following:

• If you are sick, have chills, sore throat or shortness of breath, are feverish, or have other signs of illness, we ask that you remain at home.
• If you have been directly exposed to COVID-19 or tested positive, we ask that you remain at home until a doctor gives you permission to return to public activities.
• While you are at the downtown facility, we ask that you follow safe social-distancing protocols and refrain from physical contact.
• We are asking that all worshippers who are ten years or older bring a mask to wear during worship. If you do not have one, a small supply of masks will be available at church.
• When the worship service has concluded, we ask that you exit through the assigned sanctuary doors at the direction of our usher/greeters and immediately depart the building through the assigned exits.
• If you are a member of the at-risk population (defined as those who are 65 or older or those with pre-existing conditions such as chronic lung disease, moderate to severe asthma; chronic heart disease; severe obesity; diabetes; chronic kidney disease undergoing dialysis; liver disease; or weakened immune system), you are strongly encouraged to remain at home.

The third communication from the church this week will be A Guide for Returning to Worship, which will be mailed to you so that you and your family can prepare for May 31. If you would like to view that document in a digital format, please click here.

In conclusion, I want to express again my excitement about our return to gathered worship. Though it will not be the fullest expression of what we long for, our God calls us not to despise the day of small things, but to instead rejoice (Zech. 4:10).  So, let’s do that with full anticipation that the Lord our God will be worshipped and adored, that we will be built up and strengthened, and our witness to San Antonio will continue to grow and prosper!