Tidings from Thomas - May 14, 2021

Dear Friends,

You are no doubt aware of the exciting news from the Centers for Disease Control about changing COVID-19.  Yesterday the CDC announced that people who are vaccinated can safely go without face coverings and no longer need to worry about social distancing.  This is exciting news! 

We are in the process of evaluating how this change will affect Central.  Throughout the pandemic, Central has followed the advice of experts and medical professionals.  Change is coming, but we need more input from the experts before we can say exactly what that change will be. 

One change we can safely make, given the new guidance from the CDC, is to say people who have been vaccinated can safely gather indoors without masks and social distancing.  As such, effective this coming Sunday, worship will be mask optional.  Please keep in mind that if you are unvaccinated or have certain underlying medical conditions, masks are still recommended.  Please consult your healthcare provider about what is safest for you.

Further changes will be announced once we have had time to gather and evaluate input from local experts.  Please keep an eye on your email boxes and social media feeds for updates over the next few days.  Continuing with current guidelines until we can make informed decisions is one way we can live into our mission to follow Jesus by loving God and loving our neighbors.  You, the people of Central, are to be commended for your faithfulness throughout the pandemic.  You have ensured that Central is a safe place for worship, fellowship, and service.  We are near the end.  Please be patient us as we make decisions in the days to come.  Most importantly, I ask your prayers for Central that we proceed in a way that honors God and keeps us true to our mission.

Yours in Christ,

Thomas

Anticipation of Easter

With Easter only days away, I am experiencing the great anticipation that always precedes the annual celebration of Jesus’ resurrection. Last Easter, we were a couple of weeks into a time of fear and anxiety. Much of our everyday lives had been put on hold, including the ability to gather in-person as a church. The pandemic is not over. We are still mindful of loved ones who have lost their lives. We are still having to do things in new ways so that people are protected. But so much has changed in a year! We will gather in-person on Easter to celebrate the good news that Christ has risen. And because Christ has risen, we know that death does not have the final word and God’s love conquers all.

There are some differences you will notice on Sunday from recent weeks. One of the biggest things you will notice is the absence of ropes blocking off certain pews, allowing for a greater number of people in worship. Even though the ropes will be gone, please continue to exercise social distancing. We will also resume passing offering plates to gather tithes and offerings. These changes are based in new guidelines from the South Carolina Conference of the UMC. In keeping with medical advice, we will continue to ask people to wear face masks. Our continuing to wear masks allows us to expand the number of people in worship spaces.

We will also celebrate the Sacrament of Holy Communion on Easter indoors for both The Sanctuary and The Well. When you arrive for worship, you will receive one of the single use Communion cups we have been using in recent months. When the time comes to receive the bread and juice, you will take the Communion elements in your seats. I really look forward to celebrating Communion indoors!

Following Conference guidelines, we will not yet have congregational singing. We have been blessed to have excellent music since resuming in-person worship, but we all look forward to being able to sing hymns again. Even with everyone in masks, we would need to be more spread out to safely sing as a congregation. For example, Florence School District One is spacing singers twelve feet apart. This kind of spacing would drastically reduce the number of people we could safely have in worship spaces. Rest assured – as soon as we can have congregational singing, we will.

On a related note, our mid-week prayer and Communion service will be resuming in-person worship on April 14th. Please note this service is moving from Thursdays to Wednesdays. I am excited to resume this weekly worship service!

COVID-19 is still with us, but I feel like we are seeing light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. Easter reminds us that Jesus’ victory over the grave means that the power of death and sin has been broken. In the face of pandemics and whatever awfulness the world brings, Jesus offers hope. Christian hope is not the wishing of an optimists, the but the assurance that Jesus promises to bring us through hard times. Jesus promises to ultimately bring us to a resurrection like his. We need to hear that word of hope. Whether you worship in-person or by livestream, let us gather on Easter Sunday morning to hear the good news that Christ is risen! These words from 1 Peter 1:3 come to mind.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

Yours in Christ,

Thomas

Tidings from Thomas - Easter Sunday Registration

Dear Friends,

The annual celebration of Jesus’ resurrection is just around the corner.  When Easter arrives, we will gather and celebrate the good news that Christ has risen from the grave and broken the power of sin and death. 

We will have four worship opportunities on Easter Sunday. 

Our first worship service will be a sunrise service outdoors around the porte-cochere at 7:30 AM on Easter morning.  Since this is an outdoor service, there is no need to register in advance.  However, I would suggest bringing a chair.  Be sure to check the weather before leaving home.  Early spring mornings can be cold.

We will also have The Well and both Sanctuary services at their normal times.  So that we can ensure safe occupancy levels and maintain necessary COVID-19 precautions, we are asking people to register in advance for these three services.  Please help spread this information – people must register in advance to attend Easter worship in The Well and the Sanctuary.  This is the only way we can safely celebrate Easter.  You can register directly through Realm, by visiting centralmethodist.net/easter-sunday-registration or calling Shay Justice in the church office at (843) 662-3218 x 122. An email and Facebook post will be made on Monday with the registration links as well.

If you need to cancel your registration before Easter, please do so as soon as possible.  Registration will begin at 8:00 AM on Monday, March 22nd and will close at 5:00 PM on Thursday, April 1st.  As on other Sundays the 9:00 AM Sanctuary service will be live on the radio at 97.1 FM and The Well and 11:15 AM Sanctuary service will be live-streamed.  Overflow seating will also be available.

As is our tradition on Easter, we will celebrate Holy Communion.  I am happy to report that the three indoor services will celebrate Communion indoors!  We will still use prepackaged elements and receive the elements in our pews, but this is a move in the right direction. 

I look forward to celebrating the good news of the risen Christ with you!

Your is in Christ,

Thomas W. Smith

Easter Worship

Dear Friends,

Last Sunday I preached about knowing when to change direction, both literally and metaphorically.  As we continue to approach Easter, I believe there is a need to change direction.  In short, on Easter Sunday morning we will have in-person worship with an expanded schedule.  We will have an outdoor sunrise service at 7:30 alongside The Well at 9:00 and Sanctuary services at 9:00 and 11:15. The Well and the 11:15 Sanctuary services will be live-streamed. 

When we first began planning for Lent and Easter, I was concerned that larger Easter attendance would make for an unsafe environment.  I also wanted people to be able to make plans well in advance.  However, the tide of COVID has continued to turn.  We still must take precautions, but we will safely gather for in-person worship.

We will continue to take the precautions we have had in place since resuming in-person worship.  But there is one more precaution we must take if we are to safely celebrate Easter in-person.  Namely, we will ask people to register in advance for the indoor services to ensure we maintain a safe occupancy level.  There will not be a registration process for the outdoor sunrise service. 

Registration will begin on March 22nd.  You will be able to register yourself through Realm or by contacting the church office.  We will share details of the registration process as the registration period draws closer. 

As our church family journeys through the weeks to come, I ask two things of you.  First, please be patient as we continue through this season.  Our ministry leaders are working hard to restore a sense of normalcy while balancing the continued need for safety.  Second, please continue to keep our church in your prayers.  I believe the end is in sight and Central is poised to do big things for the Kingdom of God.

It is a continued blessing to be in ministry with you and I look forward to walking with you into the next season of our life together as church.

Yours in Christ,

Thomas W. Smith

Lenten Tidings

Dear Friends,

The season of Lent is just around the corner.  This important part to the Christian year is a season of penitence during which we prepare for the annual celebration of Jesus’ resurrection.  Lent and Easter will look a little different this year due to COVID-19 precautions, but we will still have both virtual and in-person ways to observe the season.

Lent begins with Ash Wednesday.  We will have an in-person Ash Wednesday service on February 17.  The service will also be live streamed.  We will not have the traditional imposition of ashes due to COVID concerns, but we will still mark this important day with worship.

We will also continue the tradition of Wednesday Lenten services.  One of our ongoing COVID precautions is to refrain from serving food.  As such, we will not be serving lunch on these Wednesdays.  We will also not have guest preachers at these services.  These in-person services will be live streamed.

During Holy Week, we will observe the holy days of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday with traditional Stations of the Cross and in-person, live streamed services.

One of our areas of biggest concern, however, centers on Easter Day.  Rightly so, Easter is our most well attended Sunday service of the year.  It is the day Jesus conquered death on our behalf.  Even if we were to see half of our normal Easter attendance, there is no way for us to safely accommodate people.  Nothing would make me happier than to celebrate the risen Christ in an overflowing service of worship.  The concerns for Easter are like those of Christmas Eve.  Packing the sanctuary risks our becoming ground zero for COVID cases in Florence.  On the other hand, if we were to limit the sanctuary to a safe occupancy level and ask people to sign up in advance for a specific worship time, we would likely need ten services to accommodate previous years’ attendance.  We would still run the risk of having to turn away people at the door.  With this in mind, we will have virtual Easter services at 9:00 from The Well and 11:15 from the Sanctuary.  As with Christmas Eve, this allows us to have big services with all the music that helps boost our Easter joy.  We will also have an in-person, outdoor sunrise service at 7:30 on Easter morning in the Irby Street parking lot. 

A year ago, I never would have imagined that I would be planning for a second Lent and Easter with COVID in mind.  Regardless, I find hope in the themes of Lent and Easter.  The Lenten journey leads first to the cross.  The cross represents pain and death, but the cross also reminds us of Jesus’ victory over death.  We know that the cross is not the end, because Easter is coming.  The day of resurrection is just around the corner.  Joy lies on the other side of pain and resurrection is as sure a reality as death.  We have been through a lot these past months, but the end is promised.  Resurrection is promised.  Easter joy persists.  Let us remember these words of Scripture:

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39

Yours in Christ,

Thomas