“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’ Matthew 22.
These past weeks we have seen the pandemic take a turn backwards due to the Delta Variant. The Whitman County Health Department has confirmed that the Delta variant is here.
The Reopening Committee met Thursday and looked at benchmarks for in-person gatherings that were provided in a document from the synod. This led us to assess the current case rates in Whitman County and hospital capacity. The hospitals in Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho are nearing capacity and are transferring patients to other facilities to prevent overloading. Spokane and Coeur d’Alene hospitals have cancelled all elective surgeries. Governor Inslee issued several new mandates yesterday.
Based on the data and our commitment to your health and safety, we made the difficult decision to return to parking lot worship this Sunday. We know this is short notice but we are nimble. We have developed the skill to pivot on short notice.
Worship is at the same time. You can bring chairs and sit outside or sit in your car. Kerry Swanson is ready to transmit via the FM radio. After worship there will be Ferdinand’s Ice Cream Grabbers for all as we welcome back WSU students.
Your Re-Opening Team is working hard to stay on top of this and will be re-evaluating on an ongoing basis.
God's blessings!
Pastor Wes, Sue Rammelsberg, Ruth Nice and Kerry Swanson