Waiting for Each Other

March 22, 2021

To the saints who were spiritual refugees – that is, each and every one of you – of Galileo Church, especially those in and near Fort Worth, Texas –

Grace to you from the God who calls all things into being, and Jesus our brother-savior.
Peace and power to you from the Spirit of the living Christ that is among us.

I’m writing to tell you that the Missional Logistics Team has a plan for our regathering soon, with a “soft opening” as soon as July 1 and a “full opening” as soon as September 1; and to share the reasoning of that plan and the details of its execution, as best we can say for now. 

We have reason to hope that we are very near the end of our long pandemic ordeal. It’s been over a year since the Fort Worth iteration of our church gathered in any capacity – since we sang together, shared the Lord’s Supper, hugged each other, or simply sat quietly next to each other. I cannot overstate how my spirit, heart, mind, and body have ached to be with you. Many of you have expressed the same suffering. We have yearned for an end to our isolation and fragmentation.

Early in the pandemic, the MLT wrote a detailed plan for phasing in our regathering – reduced capacity in the Big Red Barn, perhaps taking weekly turns for worship among G-groups or families to keep the numbers below a certain threshold, with increases in capacity following the virus’s diminishment. (It was not an option to move our worship gatherings outdoors, because our Inside Out livestream, adopted before the pandemic, is not a mobile operation. We remain committed to our pre-pandemic plan to include remote worshipers in our community.) 

The “phases” plan relied on our presumptions that our government leaders would be courageous and our neighbors would be wise. We thought public health precautions to slow the virus’s spread would be supported all around and our situation would steadily improve. As you know, that’s not what happened; each season brought a new wave of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths. So we scrapped the “phases” and resigned ourselves to the reality that only the widespread availability of a vaccine would truly guarantee the end of the pandemic and the safety of our regathering.

Now that vaccines have been developed and are being distributed, we are allllllmost there! There is reason to believe that vaccines will be widely available to every adult who wants one by May 1. We have begun to imagine that every adult of our church who wants to be vaccinated can sign up by May 1; that most all of us could have our first shots by May 15; and that most of us will have full immunity (after 2 shots, with four weeks between them as the longest interval, and 2 more weeks for mature immunity) by the end of June. Thanks be to God!

We understand that many of Galileo’s beloveds are already fully vaccinated, and many more are on their way. It might seem, then, that we could begin gathering right away, admitting limited numbers of vaccinated folx for worship. The MLT keeps returning to two considerations that push back against that impulse, however.

1.   Our pastoral staff is not yet fully vaccinated, and neither are many of the specialized volunteers whose presence is required for the technical work of producing worship in the Big Red Barn. It will be many more weeks before myself, Steph, Remi, Nathan, and a number of audio techs, video techs, and livestream producers can safely gather without the extreme precautions we have been taking in the Big Red Barn during the entire pandemic. It would be unconscionable to expose people without whom we can’t do worship – who literally have to be there – before they are themselves immune.

2.   There are many, many more Galileo folx who want to be vaccinated and haven’t yet qualified. Over this year, we have developed a loving practice of protecting the most vulnerable among us – not rushing ahead, leaving behind those for whom it’s not safe yet. One of our beloveds might think, “The only thing worse than the church not meeting would be the church meeting without me.” I know I’d be hard-pressed to feel the loving concern of my church family if it went ahead without me, and I might even feel some pressure to endanger myself to keep from missing out. Wouldn’t you?

I’m reminded of the Apostle Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian Christians, after he had heard that their weekly Lord’s Supper was shared unevenly. Some privileged folx were invited to eat and drink like royalty, living it up with their family and friends in the inner dining room; while others who were poor and powerless got leftover scraps in the courtyard for their remembrance of Jesus. Paul was disappointed at how the church had misunderstood what it means to be the body of Christ – that they were not sharing all that they had for the good of the whole body. For the remedy, he gave a simple instruction: “So then, siblings, when you come together to eat, wait for one another” (1 Corinthians 11:33). The instruction and its Christological reasoning apply to our situation as well: we who are rich with immunity can afford to wait for those who don’t have it yet.

The plan we are proposing has implications for G-groups as well as worship. While each specific G-group might know the immunity status of its current roster, G-groups are being churned up for the coming quarter (beginning the week of April 12, extending through the week of June 14). The Spiritual Care Team assigns folx to G-groups based on their availability, and we won’t know (nor will we ask) the vaccine status of every person we assign. It is important for G-groups, in their official meetings as part of Galileo Church’s infrastructure, to remain online only for one more quarter. Just one more time, church! For the sake of the most vulnerable of our siblings, and with the help of the Holy Spirit among us, we can do it! 

We also remember with love our growing Inside Out community – distant friends and co-conspirators who will not gather with us in Fort Worth, whose worship and G-group experiences will remain entirely online post-pandemic. Our duration of this season of yearning to be together can help us empathize with spiritual refugees who are, for now, bereft of opportunities for IRL Christian community, and thus entirely dependent on the connections we can foster across miles and screens. And our empathy will help us, in seasons to come, as we dedicate resources and imagination to the deepening of those distant but cherished connections.

Here is the plan as far as we have developed it, with plans to refine it in weeks to come:

Soft Opening, as soon as July 1 through August 31

Worship will be open in the Big Red Barn for those who feel safe coming.
-- masks required
-- hugging discouraged
-- communion modified for hygiene
-- no early gathering or late staying (move conversations outdoors)
-- careful attendance-taking, for contact tracing in case of positive diagnosis

G-groups can return to IRL gatherings.
-- outdoor gatherings encouraged
-- food-sharing with caution and maximum hygiene

Kids’ groups could return to IRL gatherings.
-- parents surveyed for kids’ participation
-- outdoor gatherings encouraged

Meetings can return to IRL.
-- outdoor meetings encouraged
-- food-sharing with caution

Social gatherings (parties! potlucks!) not scheduled during soft opening.
-- We want to reduce FOMO (fear of missing out) for those who aren’t yet ready
-- We want to avoid food-sharing, close contact, loss of inhibition that parties induce

Notes:
-- Soft opening proceeds on this schedule if and only if vaccination is available to all adults who want it beginning May 1.
-- If anyone who has attended worship tests positive for Covid in the week following, we’ll contact everyone who was present; and we’ll go back online only for two subsequent Sundays. (Pastoral staff members and many skeleton crew members will be fully vaccinated by then, and should be able to proceed safely with livestreaming from the BRB.)
-- If there is a devastating spike in Covid spread in Tarrant County, or in Texas, between now and July 1, the MLT will re-evaluate the projected date of July 1.

Full opening, as soon as September 1

-- We are open, and attending to CDC advice for medium-sized gatherings.

-- We’ll maintain some modifications (clean communion? emphasis on hand-washing!) but ditch others (masks, singing restrictions, the heinous no-hug practice).

-- We’ll party our asses off. Several times. As much as want. Seriously.

The Missional Logistics Team and Pastoral Staff hope that you will appreciate in this plan all the hours of prayer, conversation, argument, education, crying (was that just me?), and consensus-building that have gone into its formation. We are hopeful that this plan will bolster your own stamina for this last stage of a very long journey. We are quite sure that we will not regret it when our whole exhausted, hungry, eager church crosses the finish line together.

For your steadfastness during this hard year, thank you. For your faithfulness to friendships that Galileo Church made possible but for which you ultimately took responsibility, thank you. For your yearning, your longing, your chomping-at-the-bit to get back in that Big Red Barn and back into each other’s lives, thank you. And thanks be to God. “I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you” (Philippians 1:3).

If you have questions or concerns about any part of this letter, please reach out to me or to any of the Missional Logistics Team members, listed below. And may God add a blessing to our best attempts to take care of each other in love. “Keep alert, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love” (1 Corinthians 16:13-14).

peace, and with so much longing of my own – Katie

(for the MLT: Amber L, Andrea G, Jessica B, Justin W, Kimberly G, and Mark W; and the pastoral staff: Nathan S, Remi S, and Stephanie Hord)