A Note from the Rector - Changes for the Fall - August 23, 2021 Update
"Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."
A Note from the Rector
Dear Friends,
The weather has cooled just a bit this mid-August, but Covid-19 and its Delta variant have taken us back to the reality that we are still in a pandemic, just in a different form. Hospital staffs and caregivers of all kinds are exhausted, parents are back to worrying about their children’s safety until a vaccine is approved for those under twelve years of age, and the Missoula County Health Department is again asking for us to reduce our circles of contact to reduce the spread of disease. We continue to wander in the wilderness: grumbling but doing our best to trust God and let the Spirit guide us. We set out to love one another as ourselves at the beginning of this pandemic, and we need to continue to do so now, to care for our children, University students, vulnerable loved ones in our homes, and to do our part to reduce the spread and further mutation of this virus. We are in this for the long haul, and much of the aftereffects will not be known until further down the road. Let us lift one another up and walk humbly with our God.
In short:
- We will continue with the 9 am, in-person recorded worship service through September 5 with masking required and with spacing every other pew and 6 ft spacing as we did back in May. Family units/pods may group together.
- Starting September 12, we will make additional adjustments:
- We will pre-record a "said" Liturgy of the Word virtual worship service (no music) like what we did at the beginning of the pandemic. It will premiere on YouTube at 8 am on Sunday morning and will remain available for you to view any time after that. We will re-evaluate things in about 6 weeks.
- We will move the "in-person" service to 10:15 am with music and Eucharist. This will not be recorded. Masking and spacing requirements will remain.
- Other "in-person" gatherings should follow masking and spacing requirements, and use Zoom for meetings whenever possible to reduce our range of contacts.
We will continue to monitor the numbers and the guidance of our health professionals so that we can serve the wider community in the best possible way. We need to think as we did early on: that things will be fluid, and we’ll need to adapt quickly. I will inform you when changes need to be made. My thanks in advance to the Staff, our Intercessors and Readers who will do double duty pre-recording and then being present as well for the in-person worship service.
Lift your heads, look around you and remember to give thanks even during hardship. Immanuel - God with us - is not for Christmas only but an everyday reality. Together we journey on!
Faithfully with you on the way!
Terri+
The Rev. Terri Ann Grotzinger
Rector