Update on re-gathering: Communion every week; new live stream capability

Dear friends,

As you know, the vestry is still in deep and prayerful discernment about a regathering date for in-person worship.  Meanwhile, Marc and I and the staff and many lay leaders are working hard behind the scenes to make our virtual worship the best it can be.  Rachel Roby is busy learning how to use our new “MEVO” camera, which will show you a wider view of the altar area church during worship services.  As soon as we have worked out how to live-stream the MEVO footage, your view of the virtual services will dramatically improve. 

A second change that we will make beginning on October 18 is that we will be celebrating Holy Eucharist every Sunday.

In compliance with our diocese’s updated guidelines for communion during COVID, there will be three ways for you to receive the bread and the wine.  Each of the options is slightly different from what we’ve been doing, so please read the following carefully:

• If you would like to receive the bread and wine in person from a clergy member, come to the River Road door of the church on Sunday between 12 and 1 PM, and make sure to wear your mask.  (Note the shorter time frame—we will stop serving at 1 PM, not 2 PM.)
• If you would like to partake of communion at home while participating in the service virtually, you can call Bill Wilds (595-0371, ext. 1007) during the week and make an appointment to come and pick up consecrated communion kits for your family to use during the following Sunday’s service.  (If you choose this option, please create/designate a “holy place” in your home to store the consecrated Body and Blood between the time you pick it up and Sunday morning.) You will need to call each week if this is your option of choice. 
•  If you are not able to leave your home, please call the church to ask for arrangements to be made for a Lay Eucharistic Visitor (LEV) to bring communion to you.  The LEV will come into your home and conduct a very short version of the Communion under Special Circumstances liturgy from the prayer book.  The LEV will be masked the entire time he/she is in your home, and the whole service won’t take more than 5 minutes.  (Our plan is to ensure that all of our homebound members who would like communion receive it once a month – the first Sunday of each month at this time.)  For those who live in residence homes, LEVs will meet parishioners in the lobby of the facility or outside if weather permits. 

In this very difficult time, when all of us are so hungry for so many things—peace, relief, healing, hope, compassion, justice—let us thank our loving God for feeding us with his very self.  I look forward to sharing Eucharist with you every week. 

Blessings,
Anne