Published: April 16, 2021

Welcome Back Video

We are eager to see you all in person again starting in May! Click here to take some time to watch our "Welcome Back" video for some fun tips and to learn about what to expect about what to expect when you return in order to keep you safe. We hope to see you soon!

Return to In-Person Worship Guidelines

We pray this note finds you safe and well in this Easter season. Thank you for your patience and grace during this pandemic moment.

As was announced this morning, we plan to begin our return to in-person worship this May! Beginning May 2, and for the following three Sundays (May 9, 16, and 23), we will be adding a special in-person service in our sanctuary at 9 am. The 11 am service will remain livestream-only until the fall. Beginning on Memorial Day weekend (May 30) and continuing through Labor Day weekend (September 5) we will move outside to a weather-permitting-only service every Sunday at 9 am. Again, the 11 am service will remain livestream-only until the fall. Our hope will be to re-open more fully this fall. All of these services will adhere to CDC and NYS Health protocols including mask-wearing and social-distancing. At this point, we do not plan to add childcare to our services until the fall.

ABOUT THE INSIDE SERVICE: Following guidance from the CDC and NYS Health Department, the services inside our sanctuary this May will have a limit of 150 people. This will allow us to maintain social distancing and keep everyone safe. In our survey, 173 respondents indicated that they are ready to return now; 111 indicated that they anticipate being ready to return sometime late spring/early summer. We have struggled with how to maintain our commitment to being “open to all” while at the same time limiting the number of people who come on these four Sundays in May. In the end, we have settled on stepping out in faith. Here is our request: You are welcome to come to as many of the May services as you would like, but please recognize that it may be helpful to choose one or two so that we can ensure everyone who desires to be present will have an opportunity to worship inside the sanctuary this spring. If there are more than 150 people who come to one of the services in May, additional socially-distanced overflow seating will be provided in the fellowship hall for members to watch the service on a screen in community. The same guidelines will be followed as those in the sanctuary.

ABOUT THE OUTSIDE SERVICE: When we switch to outside services on Memorial Day weekend (5/30), we will not be restricted by the same size limitations. However, this means that we will need to keep the outdoor service weather-permitting-only. We will work out a system for notification if that outdoor service is cancelled (likely to include an email, a statement on our website, and an opt-in text option); a general rule will be that if it is raining, we will not hold the 9 am outdoor service that day. While we will have some chairs available for those who might need them, we strongly encourage folks to bring their own blankets and/or lawn chairs for the service.

May and Summer Schedule

MAY SCHEDULE: (5/2, 5/9, 5/16, 5/23)

• 9 am Service — In-person INSIDE (limit 150)
  • Request: We encourage those interested to choose one or two Sundays to attend.
• 11 am Service — Live-stream Only

SUMMER SCHEDULE: (5/30 through 9/5)

• 9 am Service — In-person OUTSIDE — Weather Permitting Only
• 11 am Service — Live-stream Only

We will have more information in the weeks to come about what you should expect during these services. In the meantime, I invite you to check this special FAQs page of our website by clicking here. We ask that you continue to keep our entire community in prayer as we find our way safely back together. We look forward to seeing you soon!

Grace and Peace,
The COVID-19 Re-Opening Task Force