COVID-19 response: An update

If it doesn’t feel a little over the top, we aren’t doing what is most helpful right now to protect the most vulnerable members of our community. So here are some additional steps we are taking as a congregation:

Until April 5, we will suspend all in-person meetings, including worship. We invite you and the community at large to join us each Sunday at 10 a.m. for worship at www.facebook.com/vinestreet.

We will keep the number of leaders who gather to lead the service at or below ten, as currently recommended by the U.S. government. Therefore we will limit the non-staff leaders to one elder (the one scheduled to offer the prayer for the bread and cup at the table) and other essential roles such as sound and streaming techs. The role of the liturgical reader will be filled by staff members.

We encourage groups and individuals to take advantage of online tools like Zoom or facetime and other video applications, and to embrace this season of physical distancing as an opportunity to discover and practice other forms of connecting socially and spiritually. In our e-newsletter on Thursday, we will share other ideas for how we can stay in touch.

We will continually reassess how best to participate, individually and as a congregation, in the global, national, and local response to the spread of COVID-19, and we will communicate any updates and changes with the Vine Street community, both on our website and via email and social media.

In these early stages of a season of great economic uncertainty, we are grateful for your continued financial support of our ministries. Please mail your weekly or monthly contribution to the church, attention: Katie McLaughlin, or use the online giving option. This may also be a good time to set up a monthly bank draft; please contact Katie McLaughlin about the details. At the same time, we encourage you to let us know when you yourself face financial difficulties due to loss of income. We’re in this together.

Since most of our communication will be via electronic means, we ask you to update your Breeze profile (our online directory) or notify the office of any changes (address, phone number, email address, etc.). If you are a Facebook user and have not joined our friends group, we encourage you to do so.

Over the coming days and weeks, look for updates about online community art projects and our virtual game night and more in your inbox. If you would like to receive the sermon in the mail each week, please let us know. We’ll be happy to add you to our mailing list.

Our response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Our response is guided by our love for our neighbors, not by fear.

We will continue to follow the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control, the Tennessee Department of Health and Metro Health Department, particularly with respect to limiting or ending public gatherings.

This is what we are currently doing and ask all who gather at Vine Street to do:

Stay at home when you are sick. Our services are livestreamed on Facebook, and we encourage you to let us know about your pastoral and other care needs.

Wash your hands with soap before you leave home. Washing hands with soap for 20 seconds, occasionally using a brush to clean under your nails, is incredibly effective against viruses such as the common cold, the flu, and COVID-19.

Wash your hands with soap after you arrive at church. We also have alcohol-based hand sanitizer and boxes of tissues available in various places around the church.

Greet others with a friendly wave or an elbow bump. Please avoid hugs and hand shakes, hard as it may be.

Our staff and cleaning crew regularly wipe with antiviral disinfectants all door knobs and handles, sinks, and other frequently touched surfaces, including hymnals, offering trays, and toys at church.

We have made changes to how we share communion. Instead of the one loaf, we will use precut pieces of bread, so each of us will only touch the piece we consume. We continue to have grape juice available in the shared chalice for intinction, but there’s nothing wrong with only consuming the bread. Some of us will observe this “juice fast” out of concern for their own health, others in solidarity with the many who are in social isolation, be it at home or in other forms of quarantine.

At the end of the service, we typically hold hands. Until further notice, we will stand and face each other, but not hold hands for the benediction. We invite all worshipers to cup their hands in a bowl shape, a posture of grateful receptiveness.

Wash your hands with soap before you eat lunch.

If you wish to wipe the steering wheel of your vehicle and other surfaces you frequently touch, e.g. your phone, a simple bleach solution of 4 teaspoons bleach per quart of water (1/3 cup bleach per gallon) is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control.

We will continue the practices outlined above until further notice, praying for those infected and their care givers, and seeking other ways to stay in touch when stricter social distancing measures become necessary.

Stronger Than Hate

We gladly and gratefully extend the invitation by the Community Relations Committee of the Nashville Jewish Federation to this year’s Community Relations Passover Seder on Thursday March 26 from 6:30-8:30pm at the Gordon Jewish Community Center, 801 Percy Warner Blvd. 

This year’s Seder will celebrate the history, culture and traditions, and contributions of Nashville’s Kurdish community — the largest in the country! Guests will experience the Passover Seder by reading from the traditional Haggadah, enjoying infectious holiday music, and partaking in a full Passover meal.  

The evening will close with a call to action to participate in a communal reading and discussion of “How to be an Anti-Racist” by Ibram X. Kendi.

Register for the evening at www.jewishnashville.org/crcseder.

$10 Suggested Donation

For more info contact Deborah Oleshansky Deborah@jewishnashville.org

What we can do

Disasters are stark reminders of the frailty of life and immediate needs, but the needs that existed before the tornadoes still are a need today (see more on how we can help below). One of those is making sure kids have nutritious meals at school and addressing school lunch debt--further living out part of our Vine Street essentials. West End Middle School, where we’re building a partnership, thanks to folks like Carol Doidge, Joan Fleming, and Michael LeBuhn (and everyone who has brought in books and is participating in their literacy night today) has about $2,000 in outstanding lunch debt. As a congregation, we're committing to paying off that debt. If you would like to contribute to this gift and strengthen our partnership with West End Middle, you can donate online or designate it in your gift on Sunday morning.

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How we can help

It's hard to feel so helpless after such destruction, especially so close to home. Here are a few things we can do

• Give to Week of Compassion--they were in contact with Disciples congregations around town early Tuesday morning and are already offering support for folks who were affected.

• Continue to pray and checking in with folks 

• Drop off supplies to New Covenant Christian Church between 11:00 am and 5:00 pm Thursday and Friday. They have specifically asked for canned and dry goods, soap, cleaning supplies, blankets, battery operated flashlights, and detergent.

• Be prepared to jump into action in the days, weeks, and months ahead. Organizations like Gideon's Army are on the ground doing good work. 

• Register with Hands on Nashville for a variety of relief work opportunities.

Please let Allison know if you are interested in a Vine Street service day (probably some Saturday in March or April) or know of relief opportunities and she will help coordinate and organize. 

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Spring plans

The Tennessee Disciples campground, Bethany Hills, has scheduled a work week, March 9-14. There will be all sorts of projects going on from big to small, and all levels of experience are needed. Come out and breathe the fresh air at Bethany Hills! Come for a half day, full day, or all week! Call the Camp Manager, Dee Wells, at 615-952-9184 if you have any questions, or send her an email. The address is Bethany Hills Camp, 1080 Bethany Hills Rd, Kingston Springs, TN. Register here

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Ministry Council Potluck

On Sunday, we will meet for lunch and conversations about our ministry. This month we'll discuss communications and church growth. You can sign up here or on the clipboard this Sunday.

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Building Update 

Our architect, Cyril Stewart, has sent a big roll of drawings to our contractor, Batten & Shaw, for bidding and an application for the permit. The drawings include details on landscaping, engineering work including structural, mechanical, plumbing, and electrical engineering, as well as interior design and finishes. Several subcontractors have already walked through the building to prepare submitting their bids.
 
Electrical engineering plans took a little longer than expected due to concerns about the location of our transformer that powers the entire facility. Thankfully, the transformer will not have to be moved.
 
Thorough testing revealed multiple areas with asbestos in tiles, adhesives, insulation, and finishes, and we are making plans to complete the necessary abatement work.
 
In a few weeks, we expect to have solid cost estimates for all parts of the project. In the meantime, our leadership has begun conversations about fundraising options we may include, both as a means to help offset the overall cost AND as a way to celebrate our bicentennial year and the memory of loved ones (like trees, personalized pavers, and artwork.)

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Livestreaming training

Are you interested in learning how to share our Sunday morning worship with members and friends who can’t join us in the sanctuary? For the past several months, we have been livestreaming our worship service on our Facebook page to extend our reach into the community. If you would like to learn the simple steps for sharing our worship with the world, please join us at 9 a.m. on Sunday, March 29 in the sanctuary. Stephen Moseley and Doug Branson will walk you through how to set up our camera and stream our service live. It’s an easy process and we need several people trained up to share in facilitating this ministry opportunity.

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Don't Forget to Spring Forward!

Don't forget to change your clocks that don't automatically adjust! We don't want to miss you!