Will there be indoor worship on Sunday, November 22, 2020 at 9:00 a.m.? No. Please read the letter from Pastor Nik at the bottom of this post. It explains in greater detail the decision to pause our indoor worship trial for three weeks. In response to the new Covid-19 restrictions that began this Wednesday, November 19, Beautiful Savior is placing a three-week pause on our indoor worship trial period. The restrictions state that no indoor, non-residential gatherings should take place during this three-week timeframe. The pause in our trial period will be for November 22, November 29, and December 6. Please be assured that our Regathering Task Force, which is comprised of people with diverse experiences and opinions, is actively monitoring this situation and will continue to meet regularly to discuss the steps we will take to balance people’s spiritual need to gather with others and physical need not to contract this virus. Online Worship – Available at 9:00 a.m. on Sundays The 9:00 a.m. indoor worship opportunity will be livestreamed through our YouTube Channel. This means that starting at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday mornings, people can take part in worship live from home as well as watch the recording of it after the 9:00 a.m. worship concludes. It also means that we will not currently be able to upload worship in advance on Saturday evenings. We apologize for any inconvenience that may cause. Drive-in Worship – Sundays at 10:30 a.m.
Drive-in worship will continue with weather permitting.
Tune to 107.3 while in the radius of the parking lot.
Please see the inclement weather procedures at the end of this email if you have questions about the weather.
If you wish to take part in Holy Communion, please bring your own bread and if you’d like, grape juice.
If you would like a printed bulletin, please print the one attached to this email.
Preregistration is no longer necessary for outdoor worship.
Current Covid-19 Office Times
In order to reduce the odds that all of our church staff would contract Covid-19 at the same time, we have staggered times in the office so there is less overlap. While this might create small inefficiencies, and there may be slight delays in our response times, all of the staff getting Covid-19 at the same time would be the greatest inefficiency imaginable. If you leave a message for one of us in one of our personal voicemails at the office, we will receive an email with the voicemail attached shortly thereafter.
Outdoor Family Moments Sunday, November 22 – 10:00 a.m.
Paperwhite Narcissus Bulb Planting - Children, parents, grandparents, guardians, and other family members will gather on the front porch (the portico) of the church building to plant paperwhite narcissus flower bulbs to take home and watch grow. This crafty science project helps us learn about “Living Seasonally,” which is the worship topic for this week. Covid-19 procedures are to be followed for this outdoor activity.
Inclement Weather Procedure for Outdoor Worship
We want to provide you the most up-to-date information about how to proceed with outdoor worship if there are storms or other inclement weather on a Sunday morning. The following is what we have set in place:
If there is lightning, thunder, hail, a tornado watch/warning, or high-speed wind advisory, we will not have outdoor worship during the time those things are happening.
If it is lightly raining without lightning and thunder, we will proceed with outdoor worship, but people will remain in their vehicles.
If we decide to cancel worship due to poor weather, we will send a church wide email informing you of this change as soon as possible.
If we decide to cancel worship due to poor weather, we will post this change on the church Facebook page as soon as possible. This is a good time to go to the BSLC Facebook page, “like” it, and “follow” it so that you can be informed as quickly as possible. CLICK HERE to go the Beautiful Savior Facebook page.
If you do not have a computer, you are welcome to call the church office at 248-646-5041; the voicemail message will be updated as soon as possible if there is a change in worship services due to poor weather.
Online worship has grown to be a permanent ministry of Beautiful Savior, so when outdoor worship is called off for a day, worship is still available at the Beautiful Savior website.
Unless the weather is so severe that it poses a safety issue to be in the building, or it is so obvious that worship will not be taking place, Beautiful Savior staff will be onsite and in the office to answer telephone calls. Please feel free to leave a voicemail if necessary and we will return the message as soon as possible.
Dear People of Beautiful Savior,
In response to the new Covid-19 restrictions that began this Wednesday, November 18, Beautiful Savior is placing a three-week pause on our indoor worship trial period. The restrictions state that no indoor, nonresidential gatherings should take place during this three-week timeframe. The pause in our trial period will be for November 22, November 29, and December 6. Obviously, we’ve all been through this before, so we know that there is no guarantee that governmental restrictions will lift or even lighten after that three-week period. Please be assured that our Regathering Task Force, which is comprised of people with diverse experiences and opinions, is actively monitoring this situation and will continue to meet regularly to discuss the steps we will take to balance people’s spiritual need to gather with others and physical need not to contract this virus.
Personally, in my 18 years of being a pastor, I struggle to recall making a decision about which I am this conflicted. Previously, I refused to close a church building on a Sunday morning for any reason, like poor weather, because I believe that people should be able to depend on the sanctuary being open, and that people can choose for themselves whether to stay home or travel to the building. Before this pandemic, there were only two times that I ever closed a church building on a Sunday. They were during my first call on the prairies of Minnesota when the snow pileup from blizzards made it physically impossible to open the doors of the church building. Those were easy decisions. Today’s decision is not easy. In fact, it’s gut-wrenching after the refreshing way that we reopened the sanctuary for a month, with people diligently and faithfully following all of the procedures we put in place to be safer, and experiencing the joy of people gathered in person for worship.
When our Regathering Task Force first began meeting in June, we made a commitment to live in accordance with the law whether we agree or disagree with it. We also committed to taking part in the community’s response to crush this virus. Furthermore, we decided not to take advantage of the religious exemption that some congregations have, because we are part of our wider community. Jesus commands us to love others and be good neighbors, and this is why we choose to live within the same legal bounds that others must live.
A limited number of people will be in the sanctuary on Sunday mornings at 9:00 a.m. in order to livestream worship for you and the hundreds of people who have begun joining with Beautiful Savior online. We will continue to follow the procedures we put in place even though there will be less people for a while, because it’s the right thing to do. The church staff has also written emergency backup plans for what to do if one of us becomes sick. The 10:30 a.m. drive-in worship option will continue with weather permitting.
God has already brought us this far through this vexing time. We are Beautiful Savior, a congregation of incredible people who love God and love our neighbors. This dedication has empowered us to bend without breaking. The distance we traveled through the first wave of the pandemic is stunning, and I am confident that we will make more entrepreneurial leaps that we have yet to imagine as we come through this second wave.
Sincerely, in Christ’s Service,
The Rev. Dr. Niklaus C. Schillack
Senior Pastor