Look Not Only to Your Own Interests

Dearly Beloved,

Austin has now re-entered Stage 5. Vaccinated church members have now begun falling ill to the Delta variant of Covid-19. Parents are wringing their hands as they prepare to send their children back to school where our governor has said that masks cannot be required, and yet, many remote learning options have fallen away or become untenable for families. Meanwhile, the secondary and tertiary costs to each wave of this virus - to not just our physical health, but our emotional health, social health, economic health, spiritual health, and our children's developmental health - have ripped at the very foundation of our wellbeing.

We all had such hopes that we we were seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, and that life would finally begin returning to normal. We're not there quite yet.

Philippians 2:4 says, "But look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others." In the interest of our teachers and children returning to school, of the immunocompromised, and all those around the world who do not yet have access to the vaccine:

• First and foremost, Austin Public Health recommends if you are unvaccinated, over 65, or have underlying health conditions, to avoid crowds, so if you meet this criteria, please consider joining us for worship at home at this time.
• Please mask up in public, especially indoors, even if you are vaccinated, and encourage others to do so as well.
• Please get vaccinated as soon as you can, and encourage others to do so as well. Make sure that if your vaccination requires two doses, you get both.
• Please fight all disinformation when you see it, especially online. Check your information sources. Disinformation kills.
• Please pray for an end to this epidemic, pray for our frontline workers, pray for a quick and equitable distribution of the vaccine, pray for the unvaccinated, pray for our political leaders, and pray for all those who lost loved ones, jobs, and so much more from this epidemic. Tell everyone you are praying.
• Do not lose heart.

Read more about the latest recommendations from Austin Public Health here: https://www.austintexas.gov/page/covid-19-risk-based-guidelines 

I am praying for you always,

Rev. Anna