This past week, at our August Vestry meeting, the Vestry and I discussed the possibility of holding at least one outdoor service during the Fall when the weather starts to become more amenable, most likely on the first Sunday in October. As we prepare for that possibility, we need some input from all of you. Following the guidelines that are mentioned below, I would like to ask each of you to please email me (frkyletomlin@comcast.net) at your earliest possible convenience and let me know if you would like to attend an outdoor worship service. If you don't want to, there is no need to respond. I'm only looking for the "yeses." This will help us to figure out some logistics about where we should meet on the property and whether or not we need to be concerned about having microphones and speakers.
Here are the guidelines that everyone must follow if you are to attend:
1. Everyone must wear a mask for the duration of the service. You cannot attend the service if you don't have a mask. This is for the safety of everyone, especially since you might be an asymptomatic carrier of the virus and not know it.
2. You must bring your own chair to sit on during the service and seat yourself, or your immediate family, 6ft away from other individuals. This includes 6ft front-to-back and 6ft side-to-side.
3. You must bring your own Book of Common Prayer 1979 or print out the service booklet at home. There will be no handouts issued at the service. You must likewise bring all these things home with you. We will not have a disposal vessel for the booklets; you need to take them home and dispose of them yourselves.
4. As our buildings are to remain closed following the direction of the Diocese, there will be no bathrooms available and no one may go into the church without permission from the Rector. A strong suggestion: Don't drink 5 cups of coffee that morning! Save it for after church. :)
5. The service will be Morning Prayer, Rite II and will be kept to around 30 minutes in length. Communion is still not an option for us, although the Diocese is soon to issue guidelines for how Communion might be safely handled, which could eventually lead us to getting back to Communion.
6. There will be no congregational singing. Rochelle may sing a solo or two, but only she is to sing, and at some distance from the congregation. We would only have an opening hymn and a closing hymn that day.
7. The Diocese and Commonwealth are asking that we keep the congregation size under 50 people, so it will be first come, first served, and that will be based on your email RSVP to me, which I asked for above.
8. There is to be no handshaking or hugging, and everyone will be asked to maintain social distancing while talking with one another.
9. There will be no Coffee Hour or refreshments available after the service. You may converse in the parking lot afterwards though, following guidelines, of course.
10. The service would begin at 8am, so as to capture a cool temperature and to fit the service into our already existing schedule of Children's Sunday School on Zoom at 9:15am, the streamed service on Facebook at 10am, and Adult Ed on Zoom at 11am.
11. The service will continue to be streamed at 10am on Facebook. That is not going away. And there is NO pressure on anyone to attend this outdoor service. If you are not comfortable being out right now, I completely understand; please do not feel the need to attend.
12. Lastly, and most importantly, if you are running a fever or not feeling well that day, PLEASE DO NOT ATTEND. If you are even feeling slightly off, it is probably better not to risk it and put anyone in jeopardy.
Please note that, like so many of you, I really do miss in-person worship. I'm looking forward to the day when we can get back to "normal." But, as I've said before, these things are not in my hands or the Vestry's hands. They are in our Diocese's hands. At the present time the best we can do is outdoor worship. So let me know as soon as you can if you would like to do this, and the Vestry and I will work on putting it all together. Thanks!
Yours in Christ,
Kyle+