Dear St. Lukers,
Moving forward with St. Luke’s Phased Campus Reopening Plan, we will embrace our core values of acceptance, hospitality, and community as we continue to offer grace and space for all our church family members and guests regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status. We recognize the diversity of our congregation in terms of vaccinations, comfort level with adjustments of guidelines, and the variety of reasons for choosing to return or not return to campus at this time. With these considerations in mind, we lean into a covenant of trust and empathy outlined in the Old Testament understanding of hospitality as “chesed.” This expression calls our family of faith to love one another with the faithfulness and protection God offers to each of us.
Effective immediately we will no longer require registration for worship. Capacity in each worship venue will be limited and seating will be on a first-come basis. Those who are fully vaccinated are not required to wear a mask on campus and are invited to participate in congregational singing in worship. Those who are not fully vaccinated (over the age of 2), are expected to continue wearing masks. For the time being, please continue to social distance on campus.
Children are always welcome in worship at St. Luke’s and families can choose to worship with children 11 and under for the entire worship service or until they are dismissed for Worship Enrichment. Families may also drop off children for a full hour of children’s programming up to 10 minutes prior to the start of worship. For the health and safety of our youngest disciples, masks will be required in Buildings A and B. Those working with children 11 and under will continue to wear masks to protect the children who are not yet vaccinated.
We will depend on one another to live into these guidelines with care and courtesy for the needs of others as much as for ourselves. Thank you for following St. Luke’s COVID-19 protocols as we seek to keep the health and safety of our congregation, staff, and community as our highest priority.
Grace and peace,
St. Luke’s COVID-19 Task Force