Pastoral Letter on Staying Safe

Our ELCA bishops wrote pastoral letters recently about returning to worship, and I realized I should probably do that too, but I will just give you a pastoral note for now to keep taking this virus seriously. As you may know West Allis went “viral” throughout the globe yesterday… but maybe not for the best reasons…as comedy shows and the internet quickly shared footage of people immediately crowded into bars here on Wednesday night. I hope members of First can remind people in our families and communities that, as nice as this early opening may seem, this virus is still out there, it is still contagious, it is still not fully understood and it can be deadly.

That may seem like bumming people out who want to party, but there are safe ways approach this transition time and jumping in too quickly can bring the same outbreaks we feared in the past months, and get us right back indoors during these lovely summer months. A lot of people will say why aren’t churches open if restaurants and stores are, but I think it’s appropriate that churches are doing all we can to value human life and safety. That’s an important witness during this time that remind other people and businesses of that too. We want everyone to be as safe as possible wherever they are and do our part to get to a more safe point as soon as possible, where we can be truly confident to be in community again. Don’t feel peer pressure to pretend the virus is no longer an issue, but enjoy life as much as you can as you safely try to find a new normal.

Pastor Josh