Dear Community Presbyterian Church,

     It is my joy to announce to you that we will gather for worship in-person for Easter Sunday, April 4, at 10:00am. Worship will be outdoors on Taylor Field on the North end of our property, weather permitting. We are so eager to be worshipping in body and soul together as the Body of Christ once again. Easter presents the ideal opportunity in the church calendar as
well as our seasonal shift to begin worshipping outdoors in a manner that we feel is responsible in relation to the ongoing public health concerns presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. We will also continue with the livestream online through our website, YouTube, and Facebook.

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     If you feel comfortable doing so, we encourage you to join us for this special worship celebration on Easter Sunday. Please plan on bringing your own chair to sit on (we will have some available when needed), and dress for the weather – sunglasses or a down jacket or both! We will be maintaining some social distance as we set up our chairs with 6’ distance in all directions between different household groups. We are requesting all who are able to continue wearing masks for outdoor worship to protect any who are vulnerable or not yet vaccinated, or who will simply feel more comfortable with masking. We do this to keep all of us safe as well as our Redmond neighbors. We will be singing outdoors behind our masks.

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     To amplify the celebration of the Resurrection as well as our coming back together for in-person worship, we are encouraging attendees to bring flowers to display. Vases will be available to put a few flowers in, or you can bring your own arrangement or a living plant to take back home with you after worship. Our goal is to share the joy and beauty we are all experiencing with one another on this special day where we celebrate New Life at the empty grave, new life in our church community and world, and new life in our hearts and souls by the power of the resurrection.

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     The Elders of CPC made this plan for returning to in-person outdoors worship at our Session meeting on March 16. At this time, we plan to continue beyond Easter Sunday with outdoor worship as the weather permits. Because the risk of viral transmission is so much greater indoors and our seating capacity would be limited, in case of adverse weather, we will
livestream worship from the sanctuary, but we will not gather in person.

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     The Session is committed to have further conversation about large group worship gatherings indoors when Deschutes County moves from moderate risk to low risk by the state metrics, and when vaccines are available to all adult age groups, thus making church members of all ages equally welcome and comfortable with indoor worship.

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     In the meantime, we will keep BEING the church in all the ways that we have BEEN the church in the last year of pandemic realities. We will keep caring and praying for one another. We will show the love of God to our Redmond community in acts of mission and service. We will gather online and in-person (as people feel comfortable) in groups to pray, study God’s word, and carry out the work of the church in ministry and mission.

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     Through it all, God is faithful, and we trust in faith that all will be well. Easter is the source of our greatest hope. We look forward to celebrating together.

In hope,
    Rev. Andrew Hoeksema