As you may know, University Friends’ Worship Committee has decided to go ahead with reopening our meetinghouse for worship beginning October 18. We will be having an outdoor service on October 11 – bring masks, blankets and lawn chairs!
In order even to do so safely, we will follow these guidelines:
- Masks that cover the nose and mouth will be required of everyone except small children. (Masks and hand sanitizer will be available for your use.)
- Worship will be limited to between thirty and forty minutes long.
- Offering plates will be positioned near the front and the back of the meeting room.
- Labeled packets will be available for children to use as they sit with their families, and a children’s moment will be included during worship each week. Note that, to help protect their safety, children will not gather up front to hear the children’s moment, and we will not be providing childcare. We ask that use of the cry room be limited to one family at a time, with the Fellowship Hall available as overflow if needed.
- People will sit in designated pews only to allow for distancing. In addition, talking with folks beyond one’s family group will be discouraged indoors, and the foyer will not include a coffee station or tempting readings. Smiling and waving are welcome, as are gestures of “namaste” and “live long and prosper.”
- Instead of having bulletins, the order of worship, announcements, and prayer requests will be included in The Light This Week and on our website here. If you would like to have any of that information handy on Sunday morning, you might want to print it out and bring it with you.
Please understand that, while we are taking these steps to make worshiping in person possible during the pandemic, being inside the church with other people increases the risk of exposure to COVID-19. Attending worship in these times means you are willing to accept that risk.
Please stay home if…
- you are unable or unwilling to comply with these guidelines,
- you are uncomfortable about or have health reasons to avoid attending worship even with the guidelines,
- you are sick,
- you or anyone in your household has been diagnosed with COVID-19, or
- you have been in contact with someone over the past two weeks who has been diagnosed with or is showing symptoms of COVID-19.
Also, be assured that we will continue live streaming worship for the foreseeable future.
Questions and suggestions are welcome. Prayers too.
— Catherine Griffith, on behalf of the Worship Committee
