COVID-19 Updates

October 22, 2021

Dear Beloved Community,

Finally, we are seeing a decline in the number of confirmed daily cases of COVID-19 across Minnesota, in all age groups. This is such good news as we prepare to open the sanctuary for both worship services on November 7. Until then we will worship Under the Big Top at 9 a.m. (Bundle up! Blankets will be available.), and our 11 a.m. worship service will be livestreamed from the sanctuary.

My next three letters to you will outline some protocols beginning November 7 for our Sunday morning gatherings:

• There will be no pre-registration for attending worship. When you arrive you will be asked to sign in. This is so we can alert you if we learn that someone in attendance develops a positive Covid case in the seven days following.
• We will not be requiring vaccination documentation. Rather, we ask that all adults planning to be present for worship be vaccinated, and we trust that you will be thoughtful in the decision to attend. While we remain hopeful that our children under 12 will have access to a vaccination soon, we do not want to exclude children from worship, and we hope families will attend Sunday morning church activities. We require facemasks for everyone in all parts of the building on Sunday morning (and all other days).
• We ask that you maintain a social distance, to the best of your ability, inside the sanctuary. Family groups are of course welcomed to sit together. Some pews will be roped off to encourage distancing.
• While it will be a blessing to be together in person inside the sanctuary, the experience of worship will be different. Offering plates will not be passed; rather there will be depositories for the collection of giving envelopes. We will not yet celebrate communion. Initially, there will be no coffee fellowship. And only two of the three clergy will be present each Sunday because all three of us cannot risk exposure together, which would force all of us into quarantine at the same time.

We welcome small groups, boards and committees to meet inside the church at this time, providing there is available safe space. Please request a room here.

There is great anticipation in our coming together for worship in the sanctuary, and there is some trepidation. Please know that both services will be livestreamed each week, so if you are not yet ready to join us in person, you are still a valued, included member of this community. And while we are taking seriously all precautions to prevent spread of infection, we cannot eliminate all risk. If you are feeling at all unwell, please stay home and take good care.

Friends, as we move into a new phase of life during a pandemic, let us do so with much grace and patience. Let us trust in the Holy Spirit to fill in the spaces between us and bind us together in beloved community – whether together or apart. Until next week’s correspondence, I hold you all in prayer as this pandemic wears on. May we be people of hope, may we be kind and caring, may we remain faithful in community.

Blessings,

Rev. Beth Hoffman Faeth
Minister for Congregational Care and Worship