May is a time of Celebration!

May is a big month in my family, we celebrate my birthday, my son Tim’s birthday and Memorial Day, which always feels like the kick off to summer.   This year I can add to the list of things to celebrate, a concrete move towards getting things more normal after surviving “unprecedented times”; we are moving towards getting our CGS family back into the sanctuary to worship again.   At the Congregational Meeting we explained our plan, the worship leaders will begin leading worship from the sanctuary as of May 23 and when Santa Clara County moves to the Yellow Tier (or if tiers are gone, when the council reassesses that it’s safe) we will be welcoming a limited number of people back into the sanctuary to worship.  After over a year of seeing everyone’s face on my computer screen the fact that I will be able to see some of you in person makes my heart so happy.  

Over the past year, the council has spent much of our meeting time discussing our plans for bringing our church together in different ways.  We all have grown tired of seeing our church family, Hollywood Squares style, on a screen and we all wanted to see each other “In-Person”.  Our wanting to be together was constant, but keeping everyone safe was the most important thing to the Council.  We heard from so many of you about wanting to come back, not wanting to come back, about not being sure how you felt about coming back.  Before our April Council meeting, Pastor Manda and Alene took a lot of time and effort to map out a proposal with how we could start coming together.  The council in turn spent a lot of time discussing the plan.  As we talked, I tried to always remember that everything we do should reflect CGS’ mission to Proclaim, Welcome and Serve.  To me serving our family means being diligent to protect each other.  Following the county mandated regulations, like mask wearing and posting COVID-19 signage around the facility, is one of the ways we can love our neighbor and serve our community.  I have heard from a few of you, that now that we are vaccinated, it is safe for us to return to our sanctuary and some of the restrictions we are putting in place are not necessary.  We on Council wanted to be sure we were ready to welcome all, not just the people who are vaccinated.  CGS has a long history of being welcoming of all and I don’t believe that will ever change.

God has walked through this pandemic with each of us individually and with CGS as a whole.  I never would have expected that I would feel connected to our community through watching church online, but I’m happy to say, I have.  Right now, I have a hopeful feeling that we will see the end of this pandemic in the not too distant future.  More and more people are getting vaccinated and the term “herd immunity’ is being used more and more all the time.  Thinking of the day that we open the CGS sanctuary for worship to our family makes my heart so full.  

So, in the next couple weeks, my family will be celebrating birthdays and the upcoming holiday, but I want you to know that I am also celebrating our Church family, and what the future holds for us. 

Petra Menard