March 3, 2022 UPDATES!
Please note these changes/updates that differ from my February 24 blog:
On March 13, there will be ONE in-person service in our Sanctuary at 11 AM.
Family Worship at 10 AM will be live-stream only.
In-Person Family Worship will begin in a couple of weeks.
Religious Education Classes for K-6 and YRUU will gather in person at 11 AM on March 13.
February 24, 2022
Like most of you, we have been tracking the sharp reduction in the number of Covid infections, hoping that trend continues and that soon First Unitarian could welcome folx back into the sanctuary and classrooms again.
The Exec Team met with our Public Health Advisory Team late last week to review the data and determine if we could look ahead and set a date for re-opening.
The Advisory Team agreed that it was safe to do so.
First Unitarian will open, once again, for in person worship and RE classes on March 13.
Halleluia!
Let me say that again:
Halleluia!
The staff is hard at work planning and preparing the re-opening. Let me tell you what we know at this point:
We will not be using the reservation system. Though there will be a limit on the number that can gather safely, our experience in November and December was that we never reached those limits. As a community we seem to self-regulate very successfully. We believe we will continue to do so this spring.
Proof of vaccination and a booster, where that is possible, will be required. Ushers will check vaccination cards at the door. This is becoming standard operating procedure in many places and probably will continue to be common for some time.
On the 13th, masks will be required. We have not yet made a decision about masking policy, once the Oregon indoor mask restrictions are lifted. Stay tuned on that one.
On March 13 we are planning two in-person worship services:
- At 10 a.m. – our first in-person Family Worship in the Chapel.
- At 11 a.m. – in-person worship in the Sanctuary.
Entrance to the Family Worship will be via the Breezeway (aka the “alley”) entrance. Entrance to the Sanctuary Service will be via the Main St. entrance and the 12 Ave. accessible entrance.
In-person religious education classes will take place at 11 a.m., during the Sanctuary service. Look for more information from Cassandra for details about this first in-person regathering of the entire Learning Community.
No coffee hour quite yet, but coming soon.
It will be such a relief to return to in-person worship and classes. March 13 promises to be a joyous day. We will, let me hasten to add, continue our quality live stream broadcast of the services and our virtual social hour. We will be returning to a changed church in which hybrid events will become the norm. It will probably take some time, perhaps quite some time, for even a tentative balance between in-person and virtual attendance to become clear.
What a blessing to begin the process of re-gathering and for me to really mean it when I say:
“See you in church,” at least some of you.
This poem, which I heard read first by Theo Harper as an opening to a Board meeting, offers an appropriate sentiment for this day:
Testify by Eve L. Ewing
I stand before you to say
that today I walked home
and caught the light through
the fence & it was so golden
I wanted to cry & I lifted
my right hand to say thank
you god for the sun thank
you god for a chain link fence
and all the shoes that fit into
the chain link fence so that
we might get lifted god thank
you & I just wanted to dance
& it feels good to have food
in your belly & it feels good
to be home even when home
is the space between metal
shapes and still we are golden
& a man who wore the walk
of hard grounds and lost days
came toward me in the street
and said ‘girl what a beautiful
day’ and I said yes, testify
and I walked on and from some
place a horn rose, an organ,
a voice, a chorus, here to tell
you that we are not dead
we are not dead we are not
dead we are not dead we are
not dead we are not dead we
are not dead we are not dead
we are not
dead
yet