Last month, UUCC returned to worship in the Owen Brown Interfaith Center following this winter’s Omicron wave. We have loved reconnecting with one another, meeting new friends, and being reminded of the joy and meaning this community brings to our lives.
In our ongoing commitment to move toward pre-emptive radical hospitality and inclusion and to honor the interdependent web of which we are a part, we are slightly modifying our COVID-19 safety protocols:
—Instead of pre-registering to attend service on Sunday mornings, we will only ask you to sign-in at the welcome table when you arrive starting on Sunday, March 27.
—The Chalice Choir will resume performing live on Sunday mornings in the coming weeks. They will remain masked while singing, and we can’t wait for them to share their talents with us!
—We will continue to require mandatory masking during worship services, at children’s religious education classes on Sunday mornings, and in public spaces indoors at OBIC.
—Small groups may choose to remove their masks in private spaces in OBIC, with the consent of all those present.
- A private space is one in which attendance is established and consent is possible. An example of a private space is a meeting in room 150: after the 15 people I’m expecting have arrived, we can then have a conversation about our masking practice.
- An example of a public space is the common area outside the UUCC office; too many people pass through the common area, and it is not possible to have a conversation about consent in that setting.
—Food and drinks will be permitted at UUCC events at OBIC, within OBIC’s current guidance about food. Any event where food and drinks will be consumed will be clearly announced as such, so that you will 1) know what to expect, and 2) be able to make decisions that work for you and your family.
—Small groups will be permitted to reserve downstairs classroom space (with the exception of Cradlerock Children’s Center classrooms).
We are hopeful that these changes and clarifications will create new opportunities for reconnection and relationships in our community.
Guidance from the CDC will continue to evolve. For example, in recent weeks the CDC has begun to emphasize the effectiveness of vaccines and the decoupling of case counts from severe illness, hospitalization, and death, even as scientists keep careful watch for new variants of concern.
UUCC’s staff and Regathering Team will continue to monitor UUCC’s practices and public health experts’ guidance and will be prepared to escalate precautions as necessary.
The pandemic may never be truly “over,” and together, we are learning to live conscientiously and hopefully within this reality as a community.
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