Dear friends,
In the opening worship for our September church council meeting, I drew upon imagery from the book of Exodus—particularly the frustration of the Hebrew people as they wandered in the wilderness toward an elusive promised land. I chose that story because it resonates with our lives in the last eighteen months. It speaks to our experience of not having a road map to enable us to plan ahead. It honors our exhaustion at thinking we had reached the end of this journey only to find we have more uncertainty to walk through. It also resonates with our awareness—sometimes after the fact—of the blessings we have received along the journey, with the ways we have deepened our understanding of sacred community.
With that as our frame, church council dove into conversation about the fall. We drew upon our guiding question: What are the best ways we can be loving, connected, inclusive and safe? We also drew upon our survey results, which suggest that people have enjoyed our outdoor worship and that many are not yet ready to move into the sanctuary. We also acknowledged the uncertainty of the Delta variant, and the reality that our younger children cannot yet be vaccinated. Based on all those factors, we decided on this plan for the fall:
- Beginning with our Blessing of the Animals service on September 12, we will worship outdoors each Sunday during September and October and into the first week of November. Thank you to Jim and Danielle and Olive for their generous sharing of their yard. Each service will be live-streamed, so congregation members will continue to have the choice of attending by Zoom.
- In case of rain or excessive cold, we will all worship via Zoom, with the staff leading from within the sanctuary. (We will revisit the rain/cold plan at our September council meeting if the COVID numbers have fallen sufficiently.)
I am excited by this decision. It acknowledges uncertainty and puts the well-being of all our members at the forefront. It allows us to be together as much as possible, with the sense of freedom we have experienced outdoors. It inspires our upcoming worship series (Jesus Goes Outdoors and Wandering and Wondering). It encourages joyful celebration in a time when we really need it.
As we move into this season of outdoor worship, the staff and phasing forward team are working hard to envision the future. We have made staffing changes to acknowledge the need for Sunday morning expertise for hybrid worship. We are making plans for how to ensure good air quality in all our buildings. Each of our small groups will make their own decisions about in-person, outdoors, hybrid and zoom based on the needs and interests of that group.
May we be loving, connected, inclusive and safe.
Peace,
Debbie