Kia ora e te Whānau
COVID, chilly winters and school halls
It became very clear last Sunday morning that winter is coming! I am so sorry that we had such a cold service. It was helpful to get the many comments – I especially loved the emailed description of the service has having a retro Dunedin flat vibe!! It’s also really tough for any visitors who don’t know to wear their ski gear! Obviously, we have to take the colder weather into account now.
We also have to take into account that we are at different stages in the pandemic – quite a few of us have now had COVID, whereas another good chunk of us haven’t! Others are in the middle of isolation right now. This means we maybe have some differing perspectives on what is ‘safe’ and what is ‘necessary’ for our meetings. We do need to be so very aware of each other’s needs, though, as we navigate through this.
Governance met last night and formulated some updated guidelines which we are intending to implement from this Sunday (and based on our understanding of the science rather than our reading of the media).
So:
- Please don’t come to a service if you are feeling unwell at all (or are in isolation for COVID!)
- If you have reached Day 8 of home isolation for COVID, please put off returning to church if you haven’t also had a negative RAT Test
- Please wear face masks at church – including when singing
- We will continue to ventilate the hall as much as possible – but:
- We will make sure the radiant ceiling heaters are switched on, on cooler days
- We will be using a CO2 Monitor to test for ventilation effectiveness and manage the space accordingly. (We are hoping that this means we will not need to have all doors and windows open)
Please get in touch with me, or any of the Governance team or staff, if you have any thoughts to share on these guidelines – or any concerns at all. We want to be able to journey together well through this season. And, of course, our hope is that no-one will be infected with COVID as a result of being at an Ilam service!
“Ilam Day” – Sunday May 29
The Governance Team have set aside our service time on Sunday week – May 29 – for a long awaited “Ilam Day” for discussion around the Belonging Document which was circulated in the spring. With COVID interruptions, we haven’t had the chance to set aside time to talk together about this – but with the Pastoral Search process getting under way, it’s probably timely to have this discussion now! There may also be some updates from the Call Committee as well.
Please see the link in the newsletter to see a copy of the belonging document.
Please plan to come along on 29 May – at our usual service time, 10.30.
Benediction, blessing and te Reo
I hope you’ve been enjoying trying to learn our Benediction in Te Reo each Sunday! If you’ve been at the last 2 services, by now you should be able to manage the first 2 phrases!
He pononga koutou nā te Atua
(You are God’s servants)
Mea hoatu ngā moemoeā me ngā wawata kia koutou
(Gifted with dreams and visions)
We will continue week by week with this on Sundays! If you want to move ahead at a faster pace, the following link will take you to the website of Cityside Baptist Church (from where our “Ilam” Benediction comes). You’ll find the Te Reo version there, with audio pronunciation files!
Let’s see how quickly we can nail this!
https://www.cityside.org.nz/benediction