Updated Guidance of the CDC
Dear Synod Leaders,
Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!
On Thursday, May 14, the Centers for Disease Control provided new guidance to our nation regarding when fully vaccinated people needed to wear a mask. The language of their guidance, updated again May 16, is this:
If you’ve been fully vaccinated:
You can resume activities that you did prior to the pandemic.
You can resume activities without wearing a mask or staying 6 feet apart, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance.
Naturally, congregations in our synod wonder how this new guidance informs their own practices, especially when gathering for worship. As always, our church assigns both freedom and responsibility to local congregation leaders to make decisions that will best care for their members and visitors and larger community. This most recent guidance from the CDC does not change the need for local leaders to respond with thoughtfulness and care.
It is important to see in the announcement from the CDC that their guidance is for those who have been fully vaccinated. According to USAFacts[1], about 39% of the population of Pennsylvania is fully vaccinated. This information alone leads us to continue to exercise caution for the majority of our members and visitors and neighbors who are not yet protected from the coronavirus.
And although we celebrate that now children as young as 12 years old are eligible to receive a vaccination, younger children are not yet able to receive the same protection that older children and adults may attain. For families who delight in bringing their children to worship, the decision of a congregation to continue to require masks as an expression of care is tremendously valuable. Is is an example of the whole body caring for individual members.
In our commitment to care for others, having clear expectations helps people navigate this particularly challenging time. The newfound freedom of not wearing a mask brings long-awaited joy for some, while the ongoing threat that is very real for those who are not yet vaccinated remains a concern for others. The continued practice of asking all those attending inside, in-person gatherings to wear a mask, I believe, and to make that information clearly and consistently available, provides an environment in which our care for others leads our practice.
Each of our ministry sites has its own character and identity. A local practice that provides freedom and care in one situation may not attain the same results in another. It continues to be the responsibility of our local leaders to remain as informed as possible and to establishes practices of care that fit the local context.
The news we received last Thursday is a clear reminder that just when we think we have our local practice sorted out we’ll have to re-think every detail once again. This letter cannot possibly address all the details of keeping physical space between people, using hand sanitizer, minimizing congregation singing and exercising care in the distribution of the sacrament. Nor will it be the last letter I write to you about best practices during the COVID pandemic. I trust that the thought that has gone into creating specific practices of care in each ministry site of our synod will continue to guide local decisions about these things.
Thank you for your leadership, and for the care of others that your decisions strive to preserve. The words of I John 4:19 come to my mind these days, “We love because he first loved us.” May the love of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads us always from death to life guide your hearts and minds in the local decisions that you make for the care of all God’s people.
With you in Christ,
Bishop Kurt F. Kusserow