We were all looking forward to welcoming Pastor Hannah during her first worship service at SUMC. However, the restrictions set forth by Allegheny County make it necessary to keep our doors closed this Sunday and to return to online worship, at least for July 5. Below is a letter from Pastor Hannah about the closure.
The July 5 worship service with Pastor Hannah will be available here on our website beginning at 10 am on Sunday.
To my Sewickley Family,
Beginning on Friday July 3rd, the Allegheny Health Department Director Dr. Debra Bogen announced a one-week closure of bars, restaurants and casinos. In addition to that closure, she announced a cancellation of all gatherings of more than 25 people. Now we know that churches have always been exempt from the mandates that were set forth, however, we are not exempt from acting responsibly and with the safety of our people in mind. Therefore, we have made the decision to cancel the in-person worship service this coming Sunday, July 5th, 2020.
This decision was not an easy one to make and comes with particular sorrow for myself. Selfishly, I have longed to meet you all and to worship with you. However, we will continue to work with, and not against, those in authority and follow their lead. John Wesley once said, “The Gospel of Christ knows no Religion, but Social; no Holiness but Social Holiness.” This is one way that we are living out the gospel of Christ to love our neighbors extravagantly.
There will be an online service aired during the 10 a.m. worship time. For those of you who do not have online access, I am sorry for the void the lack of corporate worship must leave in your Spirit. We will do our best to make available to you as much of the worship as possible. Should the mandate mentioned above extend beyond this week, we will continue with online worship. If it does indeed end this week, then we will be gathered together for in-person worship on July 12th, 2020. In the meantime, be careful to worship God with your life living out the gospel of Christ for all to see.
From one light to another,
Pastor Hannah Loughman