Worship During Pandemic Times: September 5, 2021

A message from Rev. Robert:

September is normally an exciting time when we welcome each other "back to church" after restful family-focused summers. We look forward to easing back into our customs of worship and being in each others' company. But as you are all aware, this year will again not be normal. We are beginning the fourth wave of COVID. So let's focus on the good things around us and strive to do things that will help one another make it through the next phase of this. What we can do as a church to make this fourth wave of the pandemic easier and more tolerable for us all?   1. COVID News You will likely know that Alberta has reinstated a mandatory indoor mask policy. We have also been asked to decrease our in-person visits with those outside our households. And working from home has been advised. For more details see: https://www.alberta.ca/covid-19-public-health-actions.aspx#restrictions The Archbishop's Taskforce has also advised mandatory masks and distancing for in-person worship. We are to decrease our numbers and activities as appropriate for "adequate ventilation and air exchange." Indoor and outdoor coffee hours have been suspended. The Taskforce is meeting weekly to consider the situation and advise the Archbishop accordingly. We have been told to be prepared to offer alternatives to in-person services again, "as the requirement to suspend services is a very real possibility." The rationale for such a move is, of course, not fear, but love and prudence. We seek to reduce the risk of COVID infection among those for whom we care.   2. In-Person Service September 5, 2021 There will be an in-person church service this Sunday, September 5, 2021 at 10 a.m. Mountain Time. Masks are mandatory while in the church. So please bring a mask if you plan to come. We will be asking the typical COVID screening questions and keeping a record of attendance for tracing purposes. Please enter by the front doors. We will be seated with the proverbial hockey stick distance between all family units. This means leaving an empty pew between you and the next person both in front, beside, and behind you. The wardens will be there to help organize and remind. There will be communion by priestly intinction, received by hand. If you wish to receive the Bread and the Wine, you will be invited to come to the altar one at a time. You will be able to receive the intincted wafer by hand (between finger and thumb) or in an open palm. In either case make your hand ready and then wait; please do not reach. You will be handed an intincted wafer. There will be no coffee hour. We will exit by different doors, the wardens leading the exit out the front door starting with the back row, and the hall door from the front pew. The goal is to retain distancing. We will wait to announce whether there will be an in-person service next Sunday [September 12], after we hear from the Archbishop's task force. That will likely be on the Friday or Saturday. Yes, that is short notice, but there you go. These are not normal times. Let's face them with dignity and love for one another as we wrestle with the unpleasant but inevitable chaos and discomforts. -- The Rev. Robert Sears, Incumbent.