The decision to offer in-person worship in Pioneer Square in just 10 days has generated such positive energy. Many folks are excited and ready to join us. But some, not many but more than a few, are not ready to be part of such a large gathering. And some folks are still thinking.
I want to be clear that everyone who has shared a response with me has been enthusiastic about the service. The question is whether, personally, they are ready to be present.
Important questions, though, are being raised about how we will deal with masking and distancing at the service.
I am not a public health professional. We have consulted with a Public Health Team, made up of professionals, to help us understand the best science and the sometimes difficult to understand safety guidelines.
Following the CDC relaxation of guidelines for vaccinated persons, the worship team, all of us vaccinated, made the decision to lead worship without masks and with reduced distancing separating us. We plan to follow that pattern in the Square.
The current Oregon Health Authority Guidelines set up a two-tiered system. One tier for vaccinated folks with few limits on behavior; one for non-vaccinated folks with far more restrictions.
Although all individuals over 12 are eligible to be vaccinated now,
No individuals younger than 12 are eligible and some folks older than twelve have good reasons to say no to vaccination or at least wait.
Oregon also requires organizations to confirm vaccination status, though it is not clear that this applies to outdoor gatherings, at least in my reading.
The science tells us that the safety constraints on vaccinated and non-vaccinated individuals are different. But we reject two-tier systems of privilege in every other area. Is that the right lens to use to make this decision?
We say we want to be an intergenerational community. Would we intentionally, at our first opportunity of re-gathering, exclude young people or treat them differently?
And beyond these issues of inclusion, this worship will be the first time many of us are in a large crowd of any kind. I know in myself, each time I have faced a new decision about relaxing vigilance, I have felt my body tensing and wanted to ask myself and those around me if we are all ready for that change.
My bet is that most members of our community assumed they would wear a mask in our first large gathering. That will probably change but only with time and experience.
Returning to whatever “normal” will become is going to be a challenge during which we will confront decision points…over and over I think. And as a religious community we need to acknowledge that, as well as the issues of inclusion.
Today, it is clear that unvaccinated individuals who join us on the Square need to be masked. As I said, I believe most of our community who are vaccinated would want to wear a mask in a first large gathering, even outdoors.
So, rather than try to impose a two-tiered system of the vaccinated and the unvaccinated, the masked and the unmasked, I encourage everyone at the Square to be prepared to wear a mask. And to distance as you feel comfortable…not from family members or others in an intentional “pod.” Probably not six feet but probably also not shoulder to shoulder. There is plenty of space in the Square.
We will not be checking certificates or measuring distances. Much of the process of regathering will have to do with our own levels of comfort and our own commitments to promote safe inclusion. I have trust in our community to hold both of those concerns as we regather.
This will not be a return to what we were comfortable with 15 months ago. We are not yet at a point in the pandemic where all constraints on behavior can be put down. We may never reach that point.
I also expect that the government guidelines will likely change again before we regather in the sanctuary in September. But June 13 will be a huge step forward for the First Unitarian community and for the downtown as we offer our religious word of hope.
Blessings,
Bill