The Shell Newsletter – April 29, 2021

From the Rector

Summer Worship – A Return to Two In-Person Services

Beginning Sunday, May 30^th we will be making a major transition in our worship schedule with the return to two in-person services. After more than a year of online and hybrid worship, this will be a big change – and one I know many folks are excited for!

Our new service schedule will be as follows:

 8:30 am – Indoor Holy Eucharist livestreamed to Facebook

10:30 am – Outdoor Holy Eucharist with music

Further details
With this transition we will no longer be gathering on Zoom for online worship. Instead, we will be livestreaming the 8:30 am service in the church in real time. That service will continue as it is now, a contemplative spoken Eucharist without music. For those who would like to remain worshipping online through this service, we will begin offering the option of stopping by the church during the week to pick up consecrated wafers in order to have at-home communion. More information will be coming on that soon.

The 10:30 am service will be outdoors in our Memorial Garden and field. Participants will need to bring chairs or blankets to sit on. Masks and social distancing will be required. This service will have music, and we also anticipate singing! Current diocesan guidelines for outdoor worship allows for masked congregational singing. We will continue to follow all diocesan health and safety guidelines for both services with the hope that COVID numbers will continue to decline and more people get vaccinated we will be able to get back to pre-pandemic fellowship.

July will be a different…
While our service schedule will remain the same in July, we will be praying Morning Prayer rather than Holy Eucharist. Earlier this year we announced that my sabbatical, which was scheduled for 2021, would be postponed to 2022. While this was disappointing, it was the right decision. In order to build in some substantial time for refreshment this year however, the vestry supported my request to take the whole month of July off for vacation and professional development. Members of our congregation have agreed to lead worship for the four Sundays in July. I am very thankful to Dave and Kathy Rak, Jeannie Pellicier, Peter Sabonis, and Annie Horrigan for stepping up in this way.

Finally, some thank yous!
As we prepare for this next transition in worship, there are many people I want to recognize and thank. First, our amazing staff – Laura, our parish administrator, and Richard, our music director. Without them we would not have been able to do everything we’ve been able to do over the last year. Huge thanks to our choir for leading us in song in this time when we haven’t been able to lift our voices together – with especially HUGE THANKS to Richard for the hours of work it has taken each week to produce the virtual choir videos we enjoy every Sunday. Thank you to all our worship ministry chairs and participants – readers, ushers (in person and digital!), and the altar guild. You have kept us praying when we’ve needed it most. And finally, as we look to what’s coming next, thank you to Mike Henyon and Richard who have worked with me to identify, purchase, and test new equipment to allow us livestream in the church, and set up sound for both indoor and outdoor worship.

The past year has been a year like no other, and while many are ready for a big change like this, I know it may feel discomforting to others. If you have questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I give thanks to God for our community and the ways in which we truly have stayed church, stayed connected, and taken care of each other, trusting that these transitions are a continuation of that work.

Yours in God’s peace,
Kristin+

 Fire Update
We are continuing to recover from the fire and resulting sprinkler flood on April 18. Last week Service Master was able to complete mitigation work and an insurance claims adjuster came out to assess the damage. Thank you to Jim Bullington for connecting us to a contractor he works with, and over the weekend they began repairs. We anticipate this work finishing up this weekend, leaving cleaning and setting up the classrooms to be done prior to the inspections necessary to re-open the school. Please continue to keep our school staff and families in prayer.

Financial Help for Parishioners
Thanks to a generous donation from a family in our parish to the Rector’s Discretionary Fund we are able to offer assistance to members of the congregation experiencing financial hardship.  Please reach out to Rev. Kristin for more information.

Sunday Worship Information

Join us on the Fifth Sunday of Easter for Liturgy of the Word at 10:30 am followed by Zoom Coffee Hour, or watch the service livestreamed on Facebook.

A printable bulletin is available here.

We will “open the doors” beginning at 10:15 am for folks to greet each other and say good morning.  Kristin+ will give instructions at 10:25 am and we will begin recording and livestreaming the service promptly at 10:30 am.  Don’t worry if you’re late – you can still attend via Zoom if you “get to church” at 10:40!

Join Zoom Meeting

Sunday School classes will be held this coming Sunday on Zoom for preschool-5^th.

The middle-high Sunday School classes will be at 9:30 am this Sunday in the sanctuary following masks/distancing/sanitizing guidelines.  Once the nicer weather arrives, we will return to holding class in the outside Memorial Garden.

Altar Guild

The Altar Guild is vey excited to be back inside our beautiful St. James’ worship space preparing the altar for the 8:30 communion service.  It has been a year since we had to stop, as you well know, so it has been fun getting together again.

The five members of the Altar Guild take turns setting up the altar for Sunday worship. The routine is the same with some tweeks. We are now using wafers again instead of bread. Another change is that we don’t set out wine for the congregation, since we are not able to drink from the communal cup at this time.

Please join us for the 8:30 service. Reconnect in person with old friends and meet some new ones. Sign-up to reserve a seat and we will see you on Sunday!

Carolyn Etzler

ANNOUNCEMENTS