Hello dear friends,
We enjoyed a marvelous regathering in late Summer and into the Fall season, meeting outdoors and over Zoom for our multi-platform services. I’ve admired our spontaneity and perseverance as we were able to meet in-person for worship and Faith Formation from Summer’s end to the beginning of Winter. It was a truly wonderful experience that I will hold in my heart as we go through the more challenging weeks ahead.
We had dearly hoped that in January, as it became too cold to be outside, we could move the in-person portion of our multi-platform service indoors, while continuing to offer the Zoom option. However, given that the community transmission rates in New Haven and Middlesex counties are high, and CT overall positivity rate is over 15%, we need to pump the brakes on that. I heard on the news today that 1 out of 7 people in CT have Covid. Now, more than ever before, you may know someone who has Covid. Since November, I learned that I had family members and friends who have tested positive and all had symptoms and all were vaccinated.
In order to help stop the spread, and protect our most vulnerable members, we are going to return to Zoom (only) for the January 2 and January 9 service as well. We know we can do great services over Zoom and will continue to offer Faith Formation and other events outdoors as we’ve done since March 2020.
The Covid-19 Protocol Team, the Board of Trustees, along with Rev. Terry and Amy Buckley will continue to monitor the Covid status on a weekly basis to assess how it will impact our Sunday service delivery method. I know this is a very disappointing turn, but our priority has to be to keep our most vulnerable members safe.
Continue to watch the weekly news for updates about our service delivery methods as we continue to monitor the latest Covid developments.
In Faith,
Sue Schaedler, President