by David Baer | published: Tuesday, June 22, 2021, 3:52 PM
On June 27, Highlands Presbyterian Church will welcome worshipers into our sanctuary at 10:00 a.m. for our regular Sunday service of worship. The Zoom conference and Facebook livestream will continue to carry the service as well, for those who prefer to worship remotely.
While adults and older children have the opportunity to be vaccinated, younger children and those with compromised immune systems are still vulnerable, and so the church’s session has agreed to the following safety procedures, at least through the summer months:
All worshipers will need to wear masks. If you forgot yours, no worries... just pick one up as you enter.
The usher will do a quick temperature check as you enter. If you aren’t feeling well, please join us from home on Zoom or the Facebook livestream.
Please find a seat on one of the pews that has a cushion. You can sit with your household, or with your friends, if everyone is comfortable—but do ask, if you’re not sure.
Hand sanitizer will be provided in the pews. Offer one another a friendly greeting, but please refrain from hugs and handshakes for now.
There will be no paper bulletins, and we won't be using pew Bibles or hymnals. Liturgy and the text of hymns will be shown on a screen.
For the celebration of Communion we will use individually packaged elements that will be distributed to the pews before the service.
The service will be shorter than before—we’ll aim for around 40 minutes. There will be one hymn, and we ask you to keep your singing voice at a conversational level.
On mild days, we will promote air replacement by running the fellowship hall fan and keeping the rear doors open. On hotter days, we will cool the sanctuary ahead of time, and then turn off the air conditioning units as worshipers arrive, so that the air does not circulate over worshipers. (We may adjust these protocols as we go along, depending on how they work.)
After the service you are welcome to stay and chat in the memorial garden. At the beginning, we won't be offering refreshments, but again, we may re-evaluate this as we go.