New: Social Distance Worship
Dear People of God,
This coming Sunday, we will celebrate the birth of the church on Pentecost. And on this festival day, we will open the church a little more, and provide Social Distance Worship experience, or what I would like to refer to as SD worship.
First and foremost, I want to say to you that you must be very careful and not come to SD worship unless you are comfortable doing so. We are going to take all the precautions that we can, but those of you who have health issues or who are immunocompromised, or those of you who just feel uneasy, I encourage you to continue to worship with us virtually. I cannot guarantee with 100% certainty that you will not be exposed to the virus. We trust that those of you with children will determine if this would be a good experience for them (masks can be scary) and if they are capable of remaining socially distant from others.
Also, I want to thank the Worship, Music and Arts Council, who did such thorough work researching our options for how to stay safe as a community.
Services will be offered in the following time frames…
8:30 a.m. SD Worship | 10 a.m. Virtual Worship Recording | 11 a.m. SD Worship
Things to Know Before Coming to SD Worship
- You will be able to enter the church up to 20 minutes before each SD service.
- Masks must be worn while you are moving about.
- You will both enter and exit either the Duval Street Door or the gates on Church Street.
- Each person will be shown the way to walk down the side aisle and into a seat marked with a green dot.
- The service will begin with the tolling of the bell at the time appointed to start. Then organ music will follow. There will be no congregational singing.
- Clergy will lead the service from the front.
- There will be no prayer books or hymnals available, please bring a prayer book or follow the bulletin.
- The priests will consecrate the eucharist during the service, but the congregation will receive a wafer per person on the way out, as you exit. You will also be able to make an offering gift at that time.
- There will be a musical anthem each Sunday either with instruments or soloists.
- Tim Tuller will play the organ as you exit and receive communion, you must walk out in the same way as you came in, spacing yourselves and making sure that you wear your mask.
- The church will be sanitized fully after each service.
I want to let you know that this kind of worship will not feel like the joyous gatherings we knew before COVID-19. And yet, with a lot of care and good humor, we will no doubt find some joy together.
Let’s see how this goes. Please be safe. To worship with us virtually is to worship with us fully at this time. Remember that. And God bless you.
In Christ’s love,
Kate+