Pastor’s Corner: When are We Resuming Public Worship?

June 9, 2021

On our church website (holycrosshilo.com), you’ll see a picture in the center of the home page. It changes every few second, rotating through three pictures linked to other places on the site.

One of them reads, “When are we resuming public worship services at Church of the Holy Cross?”

I wish I knew.

Last summer, we met for about a month. It was good to see everyone, even masked and keeping distance. You remember what happened: infection rates rose in the state and on our island. We went back to an online-only service in August.

Today, vaccines have made a great different in public health and safety, but new cases in Hawai’i County are higher today than they were in August. According to the state Department of Health, about half of the county residents have had at least one vaccine dose. The recent outbreak at the Hawai’i Community Correctional Center demonstrates that COVID-19 is still here, still active, and still dangerous to those unvaccinated.

So I simply do not know when we might gather for worship again. It is probably reasonably safe for vaccinated persons, but possibly not for their unvaccinated family and neighbors. Some among us will be vulnerable for the foreseeable future, and our compassion as Christians leads us to take thought and care for them.

Until we discern the right time, we continue to lift our prayers in our homes and in our gardens, giving thanks to God for our lives and for the love we share.

With aloha,

Pastor Eric