St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church
Salmon Arm, BC
June 9, 2020
Dear People of St. Andrew’s
As promised, I am writing to update you on the decisions made regarding the opening of our building to worship.
We will officially begin worship together on Sunday June 21 at 11:00 am.
First of all, we want you to know that if you are in anyway uncomfortable, or not feeling ready to come and be physically present in worship we understand. For that reason, we will continue to post worship on the website so that you are free to attend virtually. There will be a slight change in the on-line format. The printed version of the full worship service will be posted for first thing Sunday morning; the video of the sermon will not be posted until after the worship service, so you can look for that to appear early on Sunday afternoon.
For those of you who will be coming to the Sanctuary for worship, the process will be a little different than it has been in the past. Our “new normal” will be as follows.
You will enter by the door on the ramp side of the building.
You will be greeted by an usher who will invite you to sanitize your hands.
You will sign in with name and phone number.
These steps will be outlined by a poster as you enter. The poster will also include a reminder that if you desire to participate in singing, that a mask will be mandatory. (You can take off the mask between hymns, this step has been taken to address the extra droplet spread that singing produces.)
The greeter/usher will then show you to your seat. We will be filling the sanctuary (with distancing) from the front. First come first seated. Seating will begin about 15 minutes prior to the service. (This will allow adequate time for Living Waters to sanitize the sanctuary and all other touch points before we enter.)
There will be a plate for your offering on a table in the Narthex just before you enter the Sanctuary. Please deposit it at that time, there will be no collection of the offering during worship. On the first Sunday of the month the basket for the loonie offering will also be provided on that table, prior to worship.
One thing you will notice is that in the center of every pew there will be a box of Kleenex and an ice-cream pail. These are provided for your convenience. However, we do remind you that if you think you may have a cold or other illness to stay home.
Following worship, you will be invited to leave one row at a time, beginning from the back.
If you want to socialize you are encouraged to gather in physically distanced groups in the parking lot, following worship.
We hope this will not be forever, but the plans we have laid out, follow the guidelines of the BC government and the guidelines of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. As government restrictions loosen the Session will take a careful look at our practices and discern when, if and how to include other things, like coffee hours, and hopefully one day social events like potlucks. But for now, we recognize that they are not yet available for us and may indeed be realized only in the distant future.
I look forward to continuing to connect with you all, via phone or in person.
Peace and Blessings to all as we navigate this “new normal”.
Ena