Weekly Worship Services

Beginning September 12, our Sunday schedule will be:

 

  9 am  Worship from the West Porch* (Holy Eucharist, outdoors, minimum constraints)

10 am  All-Ages Formation

11 am  Holy Eucharist, Rite II (indoors, masked, socially-distanced, pre-registration required)

12 pm  Coffee on the Porch

  5 pm  Holy Eucharist, Rite II (indoors, masked, socially-distanced, pre-registration required)

  6 pm  Lemonade on the Porch

 

*We believe this schedule makes room for all and excludes none, and, to meet the continuing needs of those not ready to return to in-person worship, we will post a recording of the 9am service.

 

After extensive consideration, we will not reopen the Nursery at this time.  We will offer the “Children’s Homily” during the (9 am) Worship from the West Porch sermon.  As the Gospel hymn begins, our Director of Children’s ministry, Cathy Portlock Pacitto, will lead our elementary-school children to the well-ventilated Clarendon Vestibule and Porch, for an age-appropriate reflection on the day’s scripture.

 

 

Registration

As foreshadowed in last week’s message, we will celebrate Holy Eucharist indoors at 11 am and 5 pm. Each of these services’ registrations will be limited to 125. While that available number does not include the lay and ordained leaders of the service (eg, choir, clergy, acolytes, etc.), please know that we have reduced the number of those serving to maximize congregational participation.

 

Registrations – via Eventbrite – for an upcoming Sunday will open on the previous Thursday, with a link in our weekly eBlast. The registration link will be posted to this page, as well. Registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first served basis, and will remain open until all available slots are filled.  Look forward to this Thursday’s message to register for this Sunday!

 

 

Arriving for Worship

For all indoor services, we will keep a single point of entry: the West Porch doors facing Copley Square.  Please enter only by this access.  To prevent the congestion of a queue during the brief check-in process, we invite you to arrive as early as you can.

 

Abiding the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts directives, masks will be required at all times for all present, with the singular exception of children under two years of age.  Masks can be cloth with filter, surgical or N95, and must cover the entire nose and mouth.  Bandanas, scarves, and gaiters do not meet the CDC-recommended standard and will not be allowed.

 

With intention to make possible parishioners’ return to “their seats” – or a place very near them – we will not cordon any pews or sections of pews in the lower Nave as we begin our return.  Instead, we ask all to mind social-distancing standards.  Diocesan standards require six feet of separation between individuals or cohorts.  Therefore, please leave a pew of separation between you and your fellow worshipers.  This distancing will allow everyone to gather – and sing! – comfortably and safely.

 

The balconies will not be open at this time. 

 

 

Communion

Communion will continue to be offered in only one kind: bread.  Following the words of Invitation – “The gifts of God, for the people of God” – the clergy will process to the West Porch.  Beginning with the rearmost pews, worshipers will make their way to the West Doors and receive the bread there.  We invite all to remove their mask and consume the bread once they are fully outside.

 

Weather permitting, once all have received Communion, the congregation will then reassemble at the foot of the stairs to the Square, where we will offer the Post-Communion Prayer; pronounce the Blessing; sing the Closing Hymn; and announce the Dismissal.  Should the weather not cooperate, we will gather under the West Porch, with all the Narthex doors opened wide to create a hybrid, indoor-outdoor space.

 

Looking Ahead

With only the slightest adjustments that may be required, we are committed to this process and these protocols through at least Sunday, October 3.  As we have previously noted, we will be fully “From Home” for worship and formation on October 10 – Marathon weekend – to avoid the congestion on the Square.