Our Regathering Task Force, which represents a broad spectrum of views, backgrounds, and professions, met on Wednesday, October 14, and determined unanimously that we will reopen the sanctuary for indoor worship on Sunday, October 25, at 9:00 a.m. The data we learned from the 179 individuals who completed the questionnaire provided the added direction we needed to make this decision. Thank you for this overwhelming response. We were also grateful to learn of people who would like to join Beautiful Savior as members. The questionnaire response rate was high enough that we could deem the answers to be representative of the Beautiful Savior community as a whole. We will send you a much more detailed email this next week, but the following are key elements to know in advance:
If you are sick, or you think you are sick, or you have recently been exposed to someone with Covid-19, please utilize our online worship opportunity.
Face coverings, which cover both the mouth and nose, will be required. The only moment when they will be adjusted is for taking Holy Communion.
You do not need to bring your own bread and wine/juice for Holy Communion. We will provide you with prepackaged communion elements.
We will sing hymns, but only a verse or two of each.
Offering will be deposited in a basket upon entry or departure so that we are not passing a plate and thereby increasing physical contact.
The entire order of worship will be on the screen and we will not yet have bulletins or hymnals in order to limit physical contact.
There will be designated spaces for households to sit, and ushers will seat people as well as dismiss them. (Imagine what happens at a wedding.)
The windows will be open, fans utilizing the filtration system will run constantly, and the heat radiators will be running. (Consider dressing for the weather, but indoors.)
Preregistration will assist greatly, since our maximum worship capacity will currently be 81 people (25% of capacity). We will still register people at the door, but not be able to guarantee a seat without preregistration. Keeping track of names also assists with contact tracing.
The 10:30 a.m. worship will remain an outdoor opportunity, including sitting on lawn chairs or in our vehicles. The 9:00 a.m. worship opportunity will be livestreamed through our YouTube page. This means that starting at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday mornings, people can take part in worship live from home as well as watch the recording of it after the 9:00 a.m. worship concludes. It also means that we will not currently be able to upload worship in advance on Saturday evenings. We apologize for any inconvenience that may cause.