We want to do what we can at church to keep you safe. We invite you to join us in showing our care and love for those who are vulnerable, including children, unvaccinated and immuno-compromised people.

Protocols for Coming inside Eden Prairie UMC
Please wear a mask when enter the building and keep your mask on while you are inside. We have been laid-back about this, taking our masks off in mutually agreed-upon situations. For now, we need to do things differently. We require masks in the building at all times. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.

Outdoor Worship Safety
The Eden Prairie UMC Pandemic Response Team reminds you of the need to mask and maintain social distance while at outdoor worship. Over the past month, we have gotten very laid-back. Given the current statistics and upward trend of community spread, face coverings and social distance are required at outdoor worship. Please come with your mask on, find a space at least six feet from others not in your household, and feel free to unmask only while you are seated and six feet from others. After worship when you engage in fellowship with others, continue to wear your mask. Thank you for caring for one another in this way. 

Indoor Worship Safety

When weather conditions move us indoors (as we did Aug. 8), masks and social distancing are required.  You did a great job of masking this past weekend, and we are grateful. I apologize that you were not adequately prepared for the seating arrangements. To assist you, we want you to know that there are signs on the back of the pew. The sign indicates seating for a particular number of people or family/pod. If your family / pod is within that number, there is room for you. (For instance, the sign "Up to 4 people or 1 family / pod" means there is room for a family of up to four people.) There are also signs "Closed for safe distancing," which means you may NOT sit there and will need to find another location to sit. We will make adjustments to the placement of signs as we learn whether they are or are not adequately spaced. Thank you in advance for following the signs.

Friends, if we are able to help decrease community spread by wearing our face coverings and keeping a safe distance from others, we will have done what Jesus asked us to do:  "I give  you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another."  John 13:34 (NRSV) These were the words of Jesus immediately after he knelt at the feet of his disciples and tenderly ashed their feet. Jesus demonstrated a servant love, a love that puts others first.

Wearing your mask and keeping a safe distance is a demonstration of a servant kind of love to which we, as followers of Jesus, have been called. Thank you for loving others at church and in our communities with the servant love that is called for during a global pandemic.

Blessings, Pastor Becky Jo