Session Update: 1-13-2021
Dear Cornerstone Family,
Happy New Year to all of you! We are thankful for the Lord’s sustaining care in 2020 and are looking forward to what He will do in and through our church family in 2021.
In December, the Session paused in-person worship services temporarily due to the spread of Covid amongst members of Cornerstone and the current Covid situation in Huntsville. With a desire to get back to in-person corporate worship safely, the Session met to approve the following plan:
- Beginning Sunday, January 17th, in-person corporate worship will resume with two services at 9:00 AM and 10:45 AM with the following revised protocols:
- Masks/face-coverings are now required and are to be worn the entire time you are inside and outside the building and need to cover the mouth and nose. Masks will be provided by the church. We believe this is the best protection that we currently have due to the space limitations of our building. Even if you have already contracted Covid, please wear a mask and/or face-covering to alleviate the concerns of your neighbor.
- On a temporary basis, at the end of each service, you will be asked to leave quietly and not congregate inside or outside the building.
- There will be a weekly registration for worship services to assist with spacing in both the Sanctuary and Fellowship Hall. Please look for a communication from the church office to RSVP in the coming weeks.
- If you are experiencing any Covid related symptoms, please stay home and participate in the virtual service.
- The deacons will continue their good work of cleaning and sanitizing between services.
For the month of January, we are pausing all other in-person church gatherings. Small groups are encouraged to gather virtually for the time being.
The Session has prayerfully instituted this plan for a temporary time and will be meeting frequently to adjust it based on the Covid situation - both in the church and in the community. Our medical professionals have advised us that the local hospitals are simply over-run right now and so we want to do our part in the community to not overwhelm the system.
In the meantime, we want to encourage community in the safest way possible. Please consider joining a virtual small group in order to stay connected to the body and to pray for one another. Be on the lookout for more information on how to participate in these groups.
If you have questions, needs or prayer requests, please contact the Session at session@cornerstone-pres.org.
Finally, this Sunday we will be studying a passage on suffering as we return to our sermon series in 1 Peter. Although you may not be suffering personally, we are suffering as a body as this pandemic has disrupted our lives and disrupted our fellowship as a church. But the Scriptures are clear, suffering is not without purpose in God’s providential care over us. That is why Peter wrote, “Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” (1 Peter 4:19 ESV) Therefore let us do just that -- may we entrust our souls to our faithful Creator, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit.” (1 Peter 3:18 ESV)
By His grace and to His praise,
Pastor Wilson, on Behalf of the Session