In Person Gatherings

Last night the One Board met and made the decision to allow church groups to begin hosting in-person meetings at the church at their discretion. That applies to Sunday school classes, fellowship groups, committees and teams and the scouts. You are still required to wear masks, and if you are meeting during the day we will still take your temperature and ask the four questions because of state requirements for the preschool.

We are going to leave it up to each individual group to make the decision that is right for them. I know one committee has already said they are going to stay online for a while longer, some of which is for convenience. But, I know that other classes have had people outside of Los Alamos participating, so would you go to a hybrid-model: some in-person some online? That’s for discussion in the group. We did expand and upgrade our wireless in the church and so connecting here should not be a problem. If you need some technical assistance please contact the church, and preferably several days in advance so we can get everything set-up and tested.

Additionally, some of you probably saw that the state has changed their guidelines for in-person worship to allow for 100% capacity in the sanctuary. Our sanctuary capacity is 376, and so we are not coming anywhere close to that. Last week we had 34 in attendance and that was one of the highest we have had for a while. Many people have told me that they are not returning to the sanctuary until they are vaccinated or until the vaccination rate is higher than it is at the moment (We are currently at 31%). I hope that our in-person attendance continues to increase with a plan of returning to two services as we get close to a critical mass for both times, but I leave it to where people feel comfortable and safe.

But, even with the new guidelines, for the moment, we are going to continue to leave the sanctuary as we have had it, which is with the left-hand side, as you look towards the altar, open and the right-hand side with social distancing markers in place. You can then choose to sit where you feel most comfortable.

I know that singing also continues to be a question, especially now that the schools are allowing for singing, with certain guidelines. One of those is to have a minimum of 9 feet distance between singers. The Hymn Society still recommends 12-14 feet. And those are all with masks on.  I am still hesitant to allow singing because it has been shown to be a super-spreader and we are inside for longer periods of time without great ventilation.

And just so you have some reference, if you wanted to sing in the congregation, you would need a minimum of three pews between you and the next closest person in front as each pew is 3 feet apart. Unless you come to the front row, in which case its 9 feet to the altar rail, and I always strongly encourage people to sit in the front row! If you would like to sing we also have opportunities for special music or even to lead hymns occasionally, just speak with Valerie.

As I said when we began plans to return to in-person worship last summer, I want to be as welcoming as we can and be as safe as we can. The last thing I want on my conscience is to have made a decision that leads to someone getting sick or even worse. Linda has gone back to work this week part-time after missing the last five months because of her Covid symptoms, with which she is still struggling. I don’t want that to happen to anyone else.

Our counts this month are continuing to be lower than last month, which were lower than the month before. I know we are getting close to some sense of “normal”, whatever that might look like, but we also don’t want to rush things and have another set-back.

And for those who are not yet ready to return, I hope you have been enjoying the upgrades to our streaming service. Each week we are discovering new things, and getting better, and I hope you have noticed the difference, and I would like to thank our expanding AV team who are doing such a great job!