17 December 2021
O Sapientia (O Wisdom)
Happy Advent, St. B's family --
It has been several months since we revised our parish Covid protocols at the Bishop's recommendation and in response to a surge in cases back in late summer. By God's grace and under those protocols, we have avoided a coronavirus outbreak here at the church, even while our life has continued apace and we've welcomed more and more worshipers. We have, throughout this process, based our protocols on information from the CDC, which still assigns Davidson County a "high" risk of transmission as we approach the end of the year. However, we have still decided to make one change beginning this Sunday, December 19.
- Social Distancing requirements will be lifted from the 8:30 service on Sundays. This protocol has been maintained for the sake of our children who were unable to be vaccinated. Now that every one five years and up has the opportunity to be vaccinated, which is a majority of our congregation, we can remove this protocol.
- Our intention is to continue to require masks for everyone three years and older inside our buildings until Davidson County has reached moderate levels of transmission as defined by the CDC here and as recommended by our Bishop. A modest exception to this requirement exists for preachers/performers/speakers inside the altar rail.
- The 8:30 Holy Eucharist will continue to be live-streamed every Sunday for those who wish to worship from home.
As we approach the end of our second pandemic year, the recent lectionary reading from Psalm 13:1 is especially poignant: "How long, O Lord?" I continue to pray daily for an end to this pandemic, for life as we knew it to return, for healing for those who are still sick, and for deaths from this virus to fall to zero. I do recall, however, that this time last year our governor was placing a 10-person cap on public gatherings, which meant our Christmas Eve services were entirely online and we made our communions via a drive through the parking lot (Fr. Charlie and I were very cold in the midnight snow!). Friends, things are better than they have been. Lessons & Carols, the Children's Pageant, and Family Christmas are all back. We had a full slate of in-person formation offerings for the youngest to oldest among us throughout the fall. And I've watched you love each other so well, graciously adhering to our Covid policies, doing all in your power to protect the most vulnerable among us -- just what I think Jesus wants his family to do.
Thank you for your commitment to God and to each other. If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to me directly. And may you be blessed as Jesus draws ever nearer.