Dear friends in Christ,

During these difficult days we are struggling with the disruption caused by the covid-19 epidemic. You are in my prayers every day, as you face the challenges of work and school closures and general disruption of everyday life. As you pray for one another, please include our most vulnerable brothers and sisters—especially those who are poor, homeless, alone, and hungry—in your prayers. Things that are an inconvenience for some may be matters of life and death for others.

On Monday evening, the LCH Congregational Council made the difficult decision to suspend all in-person activities at Lutheran Church of Honolulu, through April 5, 2020 (Palm Sunday). The decision was not made lightly or out fear, but out of an abundance of love for our community. We feel it is important for the LCH ‘ohana to heed the advice of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as well as state and county officials, to minimize personal contact in an effort to slow the spread of the virus. ELCA Bishops Andrew Taylor and Guy Irwin also issued a joint statement to ELCA congregations, in Southern California and Hawai‘i, urging congregations to curtail in-person worship, meetings, bible studies, and small group gatherings through Palm Sunday. Therefore, all in-person activities held on the LCH campus including worship, bible study, meetings, performances, rehearsals, tutoring, and music lessons will be suspended through April 5, 2020 (Palm Sunday). Where possible, LCH worship, meetings, and bible study will be conducted electronically.

It is incredibly important that we attend to one another’s spiritual health during this difficult time. Therefore, we are not canceling church; we will simply connect in worship and study in new ways! Instead of gathering at our church building, we will be the church from our homes. Wednesday Lenten services and Sunday worship will be live-streamed, via the internet. We are finalizing details, so keep an eye on your Robly email (Use this link if you are not already receiving regular emails from LCH though the Robly platform) for more information, including links for you to participate in weekly worship and Thursday morning bible study. We are already working on other spiritual resources for mutual encouragement and enrichment, especially for those who may be self-isolating.

Thank you for your continued stewardship and giving in support of ministries at LCH. Online giving is available through the LCH website. Look in the lower left-hand corner of the web page. You may also mail check donations directly to Lutheran Church of Honolulu, 1730 Punahou Street, Honolulu HI 96822. This may be the perfect time to sign up for electronic giving through the Simply Giving platform. Please email the church office at lch@lchwelcome.org for more information, or to receive registration forms.

The church office will be staffed as usual for the remainder of this week. If office staffing times change, we will post office hours on our website and on the office voicemail. Please feel free to call the office at 808-941-2566 for spiritual care or other needs. Otherwise, please refer to regular Robly email notifications (Use this link if you are not already receiving regular emails from LCH though the Robly platform) for updates and information about worship and Bible study streaming, rather than calling, if possible. We will provide information as soon as it is available.

Pastor Jeff will continue his usual office hours and activities but will restrict pastoral visits to phone and Facetime interaction. Thank you for your patience and support. Let’s have an adventure together with this new form of worship, and continue to share God’s love in the world!

Blessings,
Pastor Jeff
on behalf of the Congregational Council and staff of
Lutheran Church of Honolulu

The staff and leadership of Lutheran Church of Honolulu have spent a great deal of time working through a prayerful response to the recent covid-19 outbreak. Although the extent of the corona virus outbreak in Hawai‘i is as yet unknown, we want to be cautious and prepared to protect the most vulnerable people in our midst. As such, we are implementing changes in our worship practice to best protect one another, while maintaining a worshipful presence. These are not changes made out of fear but out of love and concern for those who are most vulnerable.

Therefore, effective immediately, in response to CDC recommendations regarding the covid-19 virus, LCH is modifying parts of our worship practice:

• If you are sick, please stay home to protect the general public.
• Please take a moment to thoroughly wash your hands prior to entering the sanctuary.
• Make use of sanitizing gel located in the pew chairs. (Please do not take the LCH sanitizing gel bottles! We have a limited supply.)
• Refrain from direct contact with others and maintain social distancing. Suggestions for greeting include a slight bow, a wave, shoulder or elbow bump, or the popular Vulcan greeting.
• We are no longer offering the common cup for communion. We still offer the pouring chalice to maintain the symbolism of drinking “from one cup.” If you are uncomfortable receiving communion, please remain seated with full confidence that God’s grace is with you nonetheless.
• Offering plates will no longer be passed person to person.
• Food in the courtyard will be served to you to avoid contamination. Please wait to be served. Do not touch food.
• Please take time to read the information posters posted throughout the campus.

For the moment, small group activities are being evaluated on a case-by-case basis, and we ask sponsors of those events to carefully consider the level of risk their event presents to the most vulnerable among us. If in doubt, please feel free to cancel your event to protect our friends and neighbors. Be sure to contact the church office, at 808-941-2566 or lch@lchwelcome.org, if you cancel an event so that we can post the cancellation on our calendar. If you are not sure what to do, feel free to call Pastor Jeff at the office.

These are interim steps pending further recommendations from the CDC and County Health Department. In the event that the health situation in Hawai‘i worsens, we are prepared to take whatever steps are necessary to protect the public, including cancelling worship and other events for a prescribed period of time. We are already working on a plan to provide some sort of digital content that will allow us to connect in worship, should the need arise. In the meantime, the staff will continue to work and plan for whatever eventuality might come to pass. We appreciate your understanding and support.

Aloha,
Pastor Jeff and the Congregational Council