“Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”
I realised this week that I was in danger of letting the Advent season pass me by! This year is not like our normal Advent, is it? There are no weekly gatherings of the whole church in the school hall, with the lighting of Advent candles with a liturgy of prayers and readings, with the band leading us in familiar carols and songs for the season … etc.. Instead, this year, we seem to have spent a long time as staff trying to organise Advent rather than experiencing it.
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I resolved this week, therefore, that Advent is not going to just pass me by!! For a start, Carol and I dug out one of our old Advent calendars and we’ve started opening the doors each day – it is one we bought in Germany quite a few years back, so the Bible verses behind each door are in German (so good to refresh some language skills!). This morning’s verse was from Matthew 21:9: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” Rich exclamations of adoration that pierce into the ordinariness of the day and force a response. The birth of Christ, the incarnation, was not an ordinary, grey or ho-hum sort of event; it was the intersection of the glory of God – in the person of Christ – with humanity, with this world, with the whole created order. The world would never be the same again. “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” (the words of Revelation 11:15 – words which echo around for us in the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah).
From Christmas lights to traffic lights
The Governance Team met on Wednesday evening and, once again, our response to the pandemic and the Government’s regulations was up for discussion. Thanks to all of you who filled in the survey that Luuk Paulusson put together for us. It was reassuring to see that most of us are wrestling with knowing what are the best ways to manage all this. Being Ilam, we didn’t all have the same answers to what we would prefer or not prefer practically for the way ahead, but it was clear that we are all concerned especially for the well-being of those in our community who are vulnerable.
One thing the Governance Team is very clear on is that we want the church to journey together through this; we don’t want to leave anybody behind. We have learned from 2020 and 2021 that we need to be very flexible in the ways we organise our gatherings. It seems a no-brainer, then, that we continue to build on this practice. From the survey it seems that the vast majority of us aged over 12 have received the vaccine – however, as a church made up of families, we will always have the unvaccinated in our meetings, as well as those whose immunity is compromised (for whatever reason).
As we talk about this, though, we are still in the very fortunate position of not having any detected cases of COVID within our local community; how we will feel about meeting together and interacting with others – should there be much more widespread evidence of the virus in Christchurch – may well make our thoughts and preferences change. As a church leadership we need to be responsive to that.
The Government’s regulations around the traffic light settings, do force us to have to make some decisions around how gatherings will operate for the immediate future. Given that our “traffic light setting” is currently at orange, if we want to meet as a larger group we would be very restricted numerically should we not require vaccine passes. The Governance Team has therefore decided that for our service on Sunday 12 December, which is scheduled to include a gathering at the school hall, we will require Vaccine Passes for those who sign up to attend. However, in addition to the gathering at the school, we will also arrange a small group gathering on the south side of town for those who would prefer not to attend a larger group, and we will also designate the space at 51 Ilam Rd for a further “open” gathering where Vaccine Passes will not be required to be shown.
So, as you’ll see, we’re looking at 3 different options for that Sunday. Please note, though, that we will be asking people to sign up, regardless of which option they are selecting – the government still requires us to be meticulous in our record keeping of attendances.
When we gather, we will be providing hand sanitiser as well as spare face-coverings (at the school). When we meet at the school, doors and windows will be opened to ensure good ventilation (so bring a warm coat on a cool day!). Additionally, though, we will be encouraging people to wear face-coverings, and we will be encouraging people to maintain a reasonable physical distance from each other (these are both recommendations in The Government’s Protection Framework Guidelines for places of worship).
That is the situation for Sunday 12 December. The following Sunday, December 19, we will be gathering in smaller groups again. On December 25, Christmas Day, we are still planning a service at the school – details to follow closer to the time.
Those are the plans through until Christmas. If you are at all unhappy about anything here, please get in touch with me – or any of our Governance Team, or staff – to talk about it. And if you haven’t completed the survey yet, it will still be open for another week or so, so please let us know your thoughts.
Ngā mihi nui
Peter