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Greetings to our parish family! We hope you are keeping well and coping in your own way during this COVID-19 pandemic. Like many of you we have enjoyed watching services from St. Johns while sitting comfortably in front of our computer, in our pajamas, and drinking our second or third cup of coffee. On a few occasions we actually joined the zoom coffee hour afterwards.

When it was announced that our parish was opening its doors for worship services we were a bit uncertain as to whether we would actually attend, mostly from a safety point of view. Our initial thought was that we would stay home and continue with on-line worship. Then, we were asked to be greeters on Sunday October 3, the first service back in church. How was "back to church" going to work was paramount in our thoughts. What better way to find out than by attending--so we agreed to be greeters.

We know that we all have our own "comfort level", but we wanted to share with you our experience on that first Sunday and then again on October 18.

Before we start, we would like to thank Father David and the many people who have worked hard to make this happen, not only for the actual service, but for the video set up and preparing the worship space (cleaning, spacing, process, and other logistics).

Coming to Church

  • When arriving at church you will first be greeted outside the west door by someone who will make sure you have a mask. If you don’t, one will be provided.
  • You will then proceed to the church foyer were you will be greeted again and your name will be checked to see if it is on the pre-registration list. If it is not, you will be asked to provide your contact information. Here you will pick up your service bulletin.
  • You can now proceed up to the church where you will be (you guessed it – greeted again!) and directed to a sitting area. All pews have been marked for distancing purposes.
  • Keep in mind that we are currently limited to 50 people. The services we attended had almost 20 at each.
  • Father David will give clear instructions before the service begins regarding communion and how to move around the church.

Our experience

It was truly a great experience to see faces we had not seen for quite a while, participate in Holy Communion, and to hear live music again. Being actually inside the church was comforting for us and we felt very safe wearing our masks and distancing.

In closing, we hope this will be of help to you if you are contemplating a return to in-person worship.

Peace,
Hal and Adrienne

What We Do
Worship