First, Do No Harm

by Rev. Eric Folkerth

As you know, our Bishop has announced that we are to remain closed sometime into June. The exact date of our reopen is not yet known, but my working assumption is that it is still a few weeks into June at the earliest.

Behind the scenes, within our committees and staff, we have already begun to have conversations about the process of reopening. As your pastor, I thought I would share with you some thoughts about that process as we move through.

At the very beginning of this pandemic, I reminded you all of the very first “rule” that Methodists ever had. Back before Methodism was a “church,” when it was still just a tiny movement, John Wesley created “three simple rules” for the group’s members.

The very first rule was: “Do No Harm.”

The second rule was: “Do all the good you can.”

I have always found the order of those rules to be instructive. Everybody wants to do “good” in the world. But within even the best decision, made with the best intentions, there can be either unintended or ignored consequences. In other words, doing good is often harder than it looks.

That’s why “do no harm” has to be the first rule, before all others.

But, what is “harmful?”

Ah…that’s the challenge, isn’t it? Determining what actually causes harm, that is often the most challenging question we confront.

Is it harmful to gather for worship?

Or is it harmful to deny our need to connect as human beings?

From my chair, over many years of observing human behavior, I see that one of the most dangerous things we humans do is to be driven by unacknowledged fears.

The senior citizen, sheltering in their home, is acting out of both self-interest and no doubt also some acknowledged fear.

But the customer, angrily confronting a store clerk because he doesn’t want to wear a mask…that guy is no doubt *also* acting out of a fear…a fear he isn’t even aware of.

It’s hard to not be driven by our fears in a time like this, whoever we are, and whatever our specific life situation is.

So, whatever decisions we make as a church over the next few weeks, as we prepare to open back up, my calling will be to remind us of our duty to “Do No Harm,” even while acknowledging that it’s always harder than it looks.

When we *do* open back up for worship, things will likely be different, at least for a while. For at least the next “season” of our life together, we will likely need to do some things differently.

Here is a list of things we are thinking through:

— How to keep good social distance between people in the sanctuary and building.

— Passing the Peace: Probably not a good idea for a while.

— Passing the Offering Plate: Also, probably not a good idea for a while.

— Holy Communion: We’ll need to think-through how we can do this, given the need to keep social distance.

— Congregational Singing and Choir: Study after study is encouraging churches to be cautious about this. It could be that for some time we have neither in-person congregational singing or choir. (I know, this is truly sad and weird…)

— Paper bulletins: Experts are encouraging us to consider worship without printed worship guides.

— Entering and exiting the building: we may need to encourage a specific “flow” in and out of our building.

— Very clear scheduling of rooms and spaces: So that thorough and professional cleaning can be done after every event or room use.

— Alternate worship services: Perhaps we should consider multiple services, or services at different times, or outdoor worship.

To be clear, we have not made decisions about *any* of these yet. However, as your pastor, I am simply offering these things as a list of potential changes we may need to make. I want you to be aware and informed of these as options. All of these must be on the table now, and will be discussed in the next few weeks.

There are “pros and cons” to every potential change we will make. For now, all I am doing is listing out things for you to consider —hopefully without either fear or sadness— as we continue to discern our future path.

All of these have to be considered as, potentially, a part of “doing no harm” as we come back together.

Of course, there will still be many people who will simply choose to *not* come back to church right away, under any circumstance. That is an understandable and reasonable choice for many, especially those in our “high risk” populations. Therefore, let me assure you that we will continue to livestream our worship as we have been doing during the pandemic. Whatever we do “in-person” going forward, I will promise you now that our livestream, as we are currently doing it, will continue.

And time and time again, we’ll keep coming back to the challenging need to “Do No Harm.”

In a time like this, it’s harder than it looks.

So keep praying for our world, our neighborhood, and our church. Pray for patience and understanding, for we may not all be in the same place with regard to some of these issues or ideas.

In the midst of all of this, it could be that new innovation and ministry ideas emerge that we help us move into our future together. In addition to encouraging us to “do no harm,” I will increasingly be praying about what new things might be birthed out of this time that may lead us into a brighter future.

Grace and Peace,

Eric Folkerth