Wearing of Masks at Prince of Peace

The wearing of masks at our church has always been a pastoral care issue for me.  The questions of “How do we best care for one another in the midst of this pandemic?” has been my central focus for the last two years.

Because of that, I have been strongly encouraging you to wear your mask at all of our public gatherings, and especially in worship where we, as Lutherans, have always sang loudly and lustily – which is great for the liturgy but not as good for the spreading of germs. 

Last week, the Dublin City Schools dropped their mask mandate for those who are fully vaccinated.  Because of our close ties with the Dublin School System, we have been following their lead in both our Little Shepherd’s Learning Center and in our Sunday Morning Sunday School.

I believe that it is time to relax our mask policy at Prince of Peace.  While everyone is certainly welcome to wear a mask at any time (and masks will continue to be available in our hallways at the church), I am encouraging each person and each family to make their own decisions about the wearing of masks.

Only you know if you are fully vaccinated. Only you know if you have additional reasons why you need to wear a mask. Only you know how you are feeling on any particular day.

If you are not feeling well or if you have concerns about the spreading of the virus, I encourage you to continue to wear your mask.  However, if you are encouraged by the downward trend of the reports of the virus and by the upward trend in vaccinations, you may choose not to wear your mask at our church.

As for me, I’m not sure what I am going to do yet. I will certainly wear a mask in worship when I am distributing the Sacrament of Holy Communion and will encourage our servers to do the same. I am still more comfortable with a mask in grocery stores and other large indoor gatherings. But I intend to assess each situation and decide what I might do at that time both for my safety and the safety of others.

Thanks to all of you for respecting my decisions on this matter. It is not always easy to care for a diverse congregation of almost 2000 people.

For me, this is the bottom line: 

I will continue to do what I believe is in the best interest of our neighbor because that’s what we are called to do.

I now trust you to make your own “mask wearing decision” for the benefit of all.

In Christ,

Pastor John D. Morris