It is our first week of coming back together after the ‘Freedom Day’ of July 19th. But what does it mean for our services?
We have a good mix of people at St Paul’s young, old, vulnerable. Some of us have underlying health conditions that make us more vulnerable than others. At the same time we are in a part of the country that is seeing record spikes in Coronavirus infection. As a result we want you to feel safe, and for those that already do feel safe, we want to give you the opportunity to exercise grace on those who are anxious right now. Here are the ways we want to meet to ensure this:
- Singing – Yes! We will be permitting singing as part of worship again! This is great news, but we ask two things – please keep masks on when singing and that you sing at a fairly normal level, please don’t (however tempting it is) belt out the songs and hymns.
- Numbers – we will limit our numbers in the building to 100. This is an increase from before the 19th but is not our full capacity.
- Space – we hope to be able to ensure 1 metre distancing between people in the church building.
- Face – As a show of love towards our neighbour, we expect you to wear a facemask in the building unless you are leading a section of the service or you have a medical exemption from doing so.
- Communion – We will continue to have communion on a Wednesday in one kind only until further notice.
- Details – We ask that you still let us know how to contact you in case of an outbreak amongst other church members.
We hope that this both relieves any anxiety and shows a positive move towards meeting in a more pre-pandemic way. The Churchwardens and I will keep the situation under review and assess whether any more steps can be taken in September.
Every blessing
Rev Paul