We have decided to change our plans for this fall. Rather than return to in-person worship next month, as we had hoped, we will begin the new church year worshipping on-line only.

So many of us were looking forward to gathering once again in person, to returning to worship in the Sanctuary, singing together and feeling safe enough to be in one another’s physical presence. Speaking for myself, I was so looking forward to being able to see your faces when I preach.

Our plan had been to offer in-person worship beginning September 12, Homecoming.

But those plans were made when it seemed that we were “on the other side” of the pandemic, with the worst behind us and increasing safety almost assured as more and more of our neighbors were vaccinated. Those plans were made before the Delta Variant and stalled vaccinations changed everything.

When the Executive Team and I met with our Public Health
Advisory Group last week, their recommendation was clear and strong. With rates of new infections and hospitalizations reaching new heights almost every day, facing a virus that is now more easily transmitted, and new information that even vaccination is not 100% protection against infection or spread, with those under 12 still unable to be vaccinated, gathering in-person would have increased the risks for all of us , even with care taken.

And that care would have changed the experience of worship. Everyone would have to mask, and distance. Congregational singing would be discouraged. Reservations would probably be necessary. Proof of vaccination probably required.

And even then , we would be dealing with heightened risks.

Informal conversations with many of you kept raising the question of whether, given the risk and the safety precautions required, enough of us would decide to enter the sanctuary to fill even the reduced number of seats available with distancing.

One forecast suggests that our planned re-gathering could well coincide with the very peak of this surge. 

The increased risks simply did not seem worth it.

It is my hope that this delay will not need to be prolonged. No one yearns for in-person worship more than I do. But safety is an overriding  concern. Our Public Health Advisors have agreed to suggest metrics we can use to determine when reduced risk will allow us to regather safely.

What will Homecoming (Septebmber 12) and the early fall look like?

The morning will begin with on-line Family Worship at 10a.m. This short (25-30 min) service, geared for families with children in grades 2-5 (but open to everyone) had developed real traction by last spring. We are still wrestling with the question of whether this will be all live-streamed from the Chapel, recorded; or some combination.

At 11:00 a.m. we will live-stream worship from the Sanctuary, as we have been doing. With a virtual coffee hour that follows. The Quartet that has contributed so much will be there. But our Music Ministry also plans to gather the choirs (masked and distanced) and record choral music that can add depth to our worship experience and to the experience of the singers.

Family Ministries, especially once we pass the peak of the surge, hopes to begin offering opportunities to gather outside for classes and worship, probably rotating in various quadrants of the city.

We hope that these new times, with Family Worship at 10 and Sanctuary Worship at 11, will continue when we can safely regather in person.

We are working to make church this fall, despite remaining at a distance, a time of nurture for our weary spirits and a time to reclaim our vision of Beloved Community.

I know hope that many of you will appreciate this decision. I know that very many will be disappointed, even if you agree with the wisdom of waiting.

The pandemic is clearly not through with us. And we are most certainly not through with one another. We will get through this period and, together, we will begin the work of shaping the new church that must emerge from these troubling days.

Blessings,

Bill