Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
This important update will cover:
Resuming In-Person Worship:
Christmas Eve
Christmas Day
Sunday, December 27
Building Use Update
Christ, The Dayspring
Resuming In-Person Worship
We return to in-person worship this coming week with the following services:
Christmas Eve Family Candlelight Service, Thursday, December 24, led by Pastor Todd Brunworth. There will be two identical services, at 5 pm and 7 pm. Please RSVP for your choice of service by calling or emailing the church office (616-363-2553, goodlans@messiahgr) or by clicking here to sign up. The 7 pm service will also be livestreamed at www.tinyurl.com/messiahgryoutube
Christmas Day Communion Service, Friday, December 25, 10 am, led by Pastor Roger Mackie. Please RSVP for this service by calling or emailing the church office (616-363-2553, goodlans@messiahgr) or by clicking here to sign up. This service will also be livestreamed on our YouTube channel.
Sunday, December 27, led by Pastor Terry Hoese. There will be two identical services at 8:30 and 11 am. Please RSVP for your choice of service by calling or emailing the church office (616-363-2553, goodlans@messiahgr), or by clicking here to sign up. The 11 am service will also be livestreamed on our YouTube channel.
The following precautions will be in place for in-person worship from December 24 onward:
Please exercise personal discernment when it comes to your health. If you are feeling sick, waiting for COVID-19 test results, in recommended quarantine or isolation from COVID-19 exposure, in a high-risk category, or not comfortable or ready to attend in person, please stay home. Services will continue to be livestreamed as noted..
You will be welcomed in person at the sanctuary door as you enter. All inner doors will be kept open.
To minimize potential spread of COVID-19 in this public setting, wearing of face coverings (fabric masks) will be required at all services, from when you enter the building to when you leave. If you forget a face mask or don’t have one, please don’t let this keep you from attending; we will gladly provide you with one.
To assure social distancing during worship, advance RSVPs will be required for all services. Sign-up options are available as above; 26 spots for families or individuals will be available in the nave of the sanctuary for each service. Note: To insure that as many people as possible can attend Christmas services, we respectfully request that you only sign up for one of the three services available. As of this morning, spaces for all three Christmas services are available, especially for the 5 pm Christmas Eve service and the Christmas Day service.
Worshipers will sit on the opposite ends of alternate pews. Designated seating will be clearly marked for “8:30 (1st service)” or “11:00 (2nd service)”; other pew entrances will be roped off to assure social distancing.
After the first service of each two-service day, worshipers will leave through the side door of the narthex, using the classroom hallway and exiting the building through the exterior doors in the fellowship hall foyer.
Following announcements, dismissal by families will begin from the back of the church. Please maintain social distancing and, weather permitting, wait until you are outdoors to greet others.
If you want to receive Holy Communion, but do not feel comfortable attending these services, please call (734-645-4353) or email (revjpeterson@yahoo.com) our vacancy pastor, Rev. Jason Peterson, to make arrangements to receive the Lord's Supper by individual weekday appointment, either at the church, at home, or another location that meets your needs.
General guidelines for sanitation and other current practices (complete service bulletins, simplified giving of offerings, Holy Communion protocols, nursery and kitchen closures, restroom availability, post-service sanitizing) will remain in effect. Please see the full version of our Guidelines available at Messiah’s website or Welcome Center for complete details.
Building Use Update
Due to last Friday's extension of Michigan’s emergency epidemic order, Messiah’s building will continue to be closed through Friday, January 15 for all activities except worship services, preschool and essential functions that must be done onsite:
The restart of Sunday School and LifeLight classes has been postponed until the week of Sunday, January 17.
Preschool will resume in January following their Christmas break.
Board and committee meetings will be held remotely.
Staff and volunteers will only be onsite for basic operations (worship preparations and services, preschool sessions and preparations, financial work and recordkeeping, drop-offs for volunteer efforts, trustee projects, etc.) To contact staff members, please continue to call the church office; the phone will be answered remotely.
Christ, The Dayspring
Last week, I wrote to you about the origin of the hymn O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, the "O Antiphons" prayers used in the church since the ninth century. It struck me that the O Antiphon for today, December 21 -- the winter solstice, the longest night of the year -- is a perfect fit:
O Dayspring, splendor of light everlasting, come and enlighten those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death.
In the final chapter of the New Testament, Jesus calls himself by this name, "the bright morning star" (Revelation 22:16). Throughout the centuries, our Savior's first coming in Bethlehem, His coming into our hearts through Word & Sacrament, and His promise to come again has been light for those who sit in darkness. (Sometimes that light has shown from quite unexpected corners of our world; the young scholar J.R.R. Tolkien was so moved by an Old English translation of this prayer that it ultimately inspired his classic novel The Lord of the Rings.) This year has been dark for many of us, in many different ways. But as we approach Christmas, I rejoice that even on the darkest day of the year, the light of Christ still shines brightly in this troubled world. And I rejoice that, in the coming week, I can celebrate that gift with you!
O come, Thou Dayspring from on high,
And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.
Yours in Him,
Rick Krueger, Parish Assistant
