Hello –
We are being very cautious and thoughtful as we prepare to offer the first Courtyard Worship service to the whole St. Paul’s community on Sunday, July 19th. You will be hearing repeatedly from me in the weeks to come. But here are a few things to keep in mind:
• The Vestry and the RenewalWorks Group has already run two dress rehearsals and we plan a final one with some invited parishioners next weekend so that we can be sure and have it as safe as possible.
• You will need to sign up to come. We’ll be sending out an Eventbrite Invitation. This is because the service is currently limited to 29 people and also we want good records of who has come in the event that we need to do contact tracing.
• Masks will be worn at all times.
• We will be strongly discouraging use of the bathrooms, except in the case of true emergency. So all the congregation will be outside the entire time. Outdoors is many times safer for the spread of Covid than indoors
• Both the sign-in process and the service itself are designed to keep everyone at least 6 feet apart. There will be marks on the ground to keep you apart as you wait to sit and all the chairs will be preset at a safe distance.
• The Courtyard Worship will be Morning Prayer with a Sermon and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. All will pick up a paper service bulletin that has all you need to know to worship. It will also have your chair number so that all are seated and all leave in an orderly manner. You take the bulletin home with you. There won’t be singing or sharing communion, both of which are much more risky.
• We will both be taking temperatures and signing everyone in as they enter the courtyard. Even earlier, as you enter the campus from the gate at the Parking Lot, there will be someone handing out masks in case you forgot, giving squirts of hand sanitizer and offering initial instructions.
• The service will be about half an hour long.
Our goal is to make Courtyard Worship even safer than going to your local grocery store. We continue to learn more every time we do a dress rehearsal, so I’m confident that we will be offering worship that is both safe and sacred by Sunday, July 19th at 8am. But nothing is without risks. We love and honor those of you who need to stay home and we will be continuing with the Distance Worship at 10am coming from the church for the foreseeable future.
The Diocese has given us permission to move forward. We all know that things can change, including what the state and the county will permit. But at the moment, we are continuing our plans to Regather in Courtyard Worship on Sunday, July 19th at 8am.
More to come!