Update on Vestry and Worship
Dear Friends,
I often write these Friday updates as theological reflections. But, the truth is, sometimes there are a bunch of practical church-life concerns I need to address. And this is one of those updates!
Vestry and Vestry Candidates Update
Over the course of the past year, the Vestry has had a series of discussions about slightly revising our bylaws. While most of this was cleaning up some language that doesn't apply anymore and adding some language stipulating that we could meet virtually, there was one change of wider note to the congregation. Over the next three years, the size of the Vestry will move from 12 to 9 persons. There are a number of reasons for this. The main one is that this will allow us to recruit those truly passionate about the work of governance in the church, and open others who may not be called to or interested in that sort of work to mission and ministry in other areas of the church. This change was made in consultation with wider church leadership and our Bishop's office.
To accommodate this change, we will now elect 3, rather than 4, new members each year. So, it will take three election cycles to complete the transition from 12 to 9. This year, in order to ease voting, the Vestry has decided to put forward three fantastic candidates to elect as a slate, rather than hold an election that would require multiple rounds of voting. Those candidates are David Dalton, Tom Greenholtz, and Aaron Wells. You will see their bios in coming weeks, but I want to thank them for their willingness to serve!
Worship Update
I met with our COVID Taskforce on Tuesday and our Vestry last night. We discussed at length the possibilities for worship in the coming months. Note, these plans are subject to change given radical changes in the state of the pandemic locally. However, assuming things are relatively stable, I will be spelling out details in the weeks to come. Here is a sketch of what we have decided:
Beginning Sunday, November 1, All Saints' Day, our outdoor service will move from 9 am to 10 am. This, which coincides with the time change, will allow for a bit more time for things to warm up in the mornings. We will also begin to celebrate the Holy Eucharist on All Saints' Day.
We will maintain this pattern of outdoor-only worship at 10 am from November 1 to November 22.
On Sunday, November 15, we will hold our annual parish meeting in an outdoor, socially distanced, masked setting following our 10 am Holy Eucharist. The verbal reports will be recorded so that all parishioners can access them.
On November 29, the First Sunday of Advent, we will reengage a slightly more normal Sunday schedule. We will hold indoor services at 7:30 am, 9 am, and 11 am. These services will require the use of masks and social distancing. They will be limited to 30 people in attendance, which will require sign-ups and a health screening to be filled out. We are still working on the details of those forms. Our 11 am service will be live-streamed to accommodate those who are refraining from large gatherings.
Also on the First Sunday of Advent, we will move our outdoor worship to the afternoon in hopes of enabling as much of the congregation as possible to join in worship each Sunday.
All of these decisions have been made in accordance with our Taskforce's plan to reengage worship, which has been approved by our Bishop.
We will keep an eye on our numbers and the state of the pandemic in order to make sure we are making the best decisions we can about worship times and offerings. I ask your grace and patience—with me, with the staff, and with all the other leaders—as these are difficult times and difficult decisions. I thank you for your continued commitment to Jesus, and your continued willingness to follow him together at St. Peter's.
It is Christ alone who will carry us through these days and lead us into green pastures.
God bless,
Fr. Quinn+