Stage 5 of COVID and Stage 5 of Acceptance...

Dearly Beloved,

As much as I want to soldier on with life "as normal," the pandemic again has thrown us a loop: Austin has now entered Stage 5. I personally have gone through all of the classic Kubler-Ross stages of grief again:

1. Denial (It really isn't that bad this time because the variant is milder...)
2. Anger (It's those anti-vax people who got us here again! )
3. Bargaining (As long as we're boosted and mask, can't we just all carry on like before? )
4. Depression (This is never going to end!)
5. Acceptance (Okay, we're going to have to pivot again for a while. We know how to do this and we can do it again. We'll get through it together with God.)

So it is in this positive Stage 5 of Acceptance that we have decided to re-examine and boost our safety practices, renew our attention to the quality of our online and remote ministries, and prioritize in-person worship over other in-person church gatherings.

For this reason we have postponed our Time and Talents Fair on Sunday and will be pivoting to offer this online soon. Please stay tuned for details. We also encourage all teams, groups, and committees to gather online or outdoors if at all possible. We've gotten through this before, and we'll do it again, hand-in-hand and with the grace of God.

Much heart,
Rev. Anna