Worship Service

Thank you to all for your patience. The biggest change in our shared physical space is that the new, state of the art HVAC system is now up and running. The improved ventilation will mean better air flow in the space and cleaner shared air.

We’ve been holding at “masks required” as our policy for worship and parties, but now with building improvements it is time to shift. We recognize that there may be some space of discomfort moving away from 100% masking and welcome conversation on this. 

Our current policy is "masks recommended".  Masks will still be on hand, and we’ll keep modeling wearing them. We do think wearing a mask is an act of hospitality, and we’re trying to balance that with comfort in the space, personal ease of breathing, and community norms. Whatever you personally are comfortable with doing with respect to masks, we support.

Here are the ways we are still going to be practicing caution around COVID and all transmissible diseases in our church:

1. We still ask that you stay home if you are sick, even if you are testing negative for COVID specifically. We love to see folks on Zoom and we are encouraging everyone and especially staff to be very cautious about illness, and not come in person when we’re sick.
2. Masks recommended is the current policy.
3. Safety at the communion table: communion practices will remain in place for the near future. Changes around shared common cup / intinction will come slowly.
4. We’re still going to have sanitizer around and hand sinks are available on the main level and ground level of the building.
5. If case counts rise and there is a new peak in our area, we are still committed to data-driven decision making and potential for changing the mask policy (in either direction) is still there.
6. For small groups, we ask that the group have a shared consensus about wearing/not wearing masks.
7. Running the new HVAC for ventilation in the great hall.

Please feel free to direct any questions to Ivar, Katherine, or Kim Vanderzee and the COVID task force will continue to be a resource and a guide for us as we navigate through pandemic. As always, we pray for your health and want to support you if you do get sick.

Thank you for being gracious with us as we continue to adjust our practices according to the best science and the safety and comfort of our members in mind. There is no decision we can make that every person will be perfectly happy with. We know the mask mandate has been lifted but we are still requiring masks when worshiping in person for now.