Dear Ones of St. Columba's,

For roughly the past two months we have been separated from each other. At the beginning of this crisis, when it became evident that our building would be closed and we would need to make major changes in how our faith community functions, I wrote to you with a new identity statement for us in this crisis. By now, I hope, you know it by heart:

We Stay Connected. We Stay Church. We Take Care of Each Other. 

These three short sentences have been the heartbeat of how I approach this crisis as your Vicar, how Meghan, Martin, Elaine, Beccaa and your BC and other lay leaders make decisions about how to respond, and how we are striving to structure the way we love God, each other, and our neighbors during this unprecedented time. 

Perhaps you, like me, have started to wonder what happens next. 

This week our bishop's office is releasing a guide for congregations as we begin to move toward gathering once again. I'll share this with you very soon but first, here, I want to give you some takeaways that we need to look at and digest together. This process of coming back to church in person is not going to be easy, and it is not going to be fast. There may be stops and starts. And church together won't feel the same or be the same as it was before. This is a reality and an opportunity and a grief. Here is what I can tell you right now:

We will not stop livestreaming anytime soon. We are still at minimum several weeks away from being able to hold in person services. And even then they will be restricted by size, at first, to under 50 people. We are working on creative ways to be together in person - St. C's is lucky to have a completely flexible space where we can set up for social distancing, and some lovely outdoor spaces where we could hold outdoor worship. However, the reality of our world is that it will not be safe for some of our people to return to public life until there is a vaccine or cure. So we will continue to stay connected virtually for the forseeable future. 

It will be a long time before we can safely sing together. This is one of the hardest pills to swallow, but more and more research is coming to light that exposes communal singing as one of the more dangerous activities humans can engage in during this pandemic. It will not be safe for us to sing together for a long time, and so we will explore other musical offerings. You will notice even this week that I will no longer be chanting the Eucharist, and as we move toward a time where we can welcome more people to in-person Sunday worship our livestream worship will begin to move toward soloists, instrumental (but no wind instruments) music, and the best communal worship we can have without communal singing. Not even wearing masks mitigates the risk of singing together. 

We will need to wear masks and be very strict about social distance when we begin to gather in person again. It will be a long time before we can shake hands or hug each other, or hang out after church for coffee hour. Face masks will be required for in-person worship. You will start to see some of our virtual worship team modeling this wearing of masks as soon as this week. In phase 3 (of the governor's plan, which we use as a guide for our Diocesan plan) bread-only Eucharist will be allowed and we are working on the safest way to do that.  

When this began I had dreams of what it would be like for us to gather together again. I will be honest, friends, those dreams did not include us sitting 6 feet apart wearing face masks and not singing together. 

But I will, and we will, because that is how we will continue to stay true to our identity in this crisis. As we go forward and begin to regather (which, again, will not happen before mid-summer, but we are preparing) it may get even harder, and stranger, to stay connected, stay church, and take care of each other. Beginning to phase back into life in person will be a grief of its own.

Dear friends, we are not alone. We have each other, and God is with us. We can do this, we can stay true to our call to bear witness to Christian life and follow the way of Jesus, and we can continue the sacred and beautiful work of staying connected, staying church, and (this one is key!) taking care of each other as we discern how to worship, how to serve, and how to love in the weeks and months ahead.

I am so proud to be your priest, and to be doing this work with you. 

with care and gratitude,

Alissa