Death of Pastor Jim Avers
We received word this morning of the death of Pastor Jim following a lengthy illness and hospital stay. I was able to visit Pastor Jim several times at Firelands, most recently last Sunday afternoon. He was transferred to Stein Hospice Care Center, where Linda and family was able to spend quality time with him. Pastor Jim served the Lord faithfully, most recently as the Visitation pastor at Grace, a call that fit perfectly with Jim's gifts for ministry. Keep Linda and the family in your prayers. Funeral arrangements are pending.
A Brush With Covid-19
On Monday of this week I received a phone call from a member of Grace with whom I shared a brief face to face conversation on Sunday morning. The call was to inform me that they had tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, even though vaccinated. I checked the CDC guidelines which suggest that for a vaccinated person, quarantine was not required, but advised testing 3-5 days after exposure. I scheduled a drive-through test at CVS for Wednesday at 11:00 am, and received the result at midnight last night, which was negative. (Yayy!!) Along with the negative report came the following information/advice:
A negative test result does not completely rule out being infected with COVID-19. If you test negative for COVID-19, this means the virus was not detected at the time your specimen was collected. It is still possible that you were very early in your infection at the time of your specimen collection and that you could test positive later. Also, you could be exposed later and still develop the illness. For all these reasons, it is important to follow CDC guidance HERE, including but not limited to frequent hand washing, social distancing, wearing a face covering, covering coughs and sneezes, monitoring symptoms, and cleaning and disinfectant of frequently touched surfaces -- even after a negative test result.
I plan to continue social distancing and masking in public (including at Grace) through Wednesday, Thanks to Maureen, who agreed to preach and lead worship on Saturday and Sunday, should I have tested positive.
One of the takeaways of this experience for me is that I am more vulnerable than I acknowledge, either consciously or unconsciously. I would very much prefer to weather this pandemic without getting infected, not only for my own sake, but for the sake of others, which should be my primary concern. I know that many of us wonder what we can or cannot do while the pandemic has put us back in the red zone. I found the article linked below helpful.
What's the Risk of Indoor Activity Even if You're Fully Vaccinated?
You can read what one expert says HERE.
Transition Team Meeting Postponed
The Grace Transition Team had planned to meet this week on Thursday, but because of my uncertainty of whether or not I would test positve for SARS-CoV-2, I requested that we move the meeting to next week, September 9, same time, 4:30 pm. We will continue our plans for our Remembering our History event scheduled for 11:00 am - 1:00 pm on Sunday, October 10.
Return of Pastor Mary Carmen and Leo
I received the following email from LIFT Board Chairman Steven Hottinger on August 28:
Greetings and God Bless to Everyone,
Hope this message finds you well and cool. As can be.
I have received some great news! Mary Carmen and Leo were granted a long awaited meeting with the Mexican Consulate. They are currently finalizing a return to the United States scheduled for this upcoming month of September. I am told that they have continued to pay their rent for the apartment here in Fremont, during this absence. Mary jokes about the amount of dust that awaits their return. What started out as a trip home to visit with family turned into a 17 month long COVID induced quarantine lockout.
Mary and Leo are extremely excited to return and revive the ministry they have helped to foster.
It is my hope that the LIFT board will join me in putting together a welcome home basket to help their transition. Could everyone please work with their home church to gather some gift cards and welcome items we can present to Mary and Leo.
I will get a basket to hold the items and hope to assemble it at the time of our next LIFT exec meeting, September 12th.
I'll be available to receive and/or come and pick up gift items as they become available. Just shoot me an e-mail, send a text or give me a call. Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions. I would welcome your input.
Thank you,
Steve Hottinger
Bishop Daniel's Latest Email
You can read it HERE.
Marcy Begins a Second Generation
Marcy, who has taught 5th grade at Norwalk City Schools for 23 years, has begun to teach her second generation of students. Three of her newly minted 5th graders' parents were Marcy's students when they were in 5th grade. Prayers for all our teachers, children, youth, administrators, support staff and parents for the extremely difficult job of educating our children in the midst of a pandemic.
Latest Osterholm Podcast
Dr. Michael Osterholm, founder and Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, continues to deliver solid scientific analysis of the Covid-19 pandemic in his weekly podcasts. In this episode, posted on September 2, Dr. Osterholm and host Chris Dall discuss the state of the pandemic in the US and abroad, evolving data on vaccines and their effectiveness, and schools in the age of Delta. You can listen to or download this episode HERE.
Congregational Vitality Survey
I've had info about this in the last couple Grace Notes, but here's one more reminder to complete the survey if you haven't already. You can find the survey HERE. I am moving up the deadline from September 10 to September 6. This will give sufficient time to enter manually the several or more surveys that have been and will be sumitted to the boxes near the entry doors.
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