By Paul Gordon • March 25, 2024
It is with cautious excitement that we are glad to announce that we will gather in person for a worship service this Sunday, May 24th, at 10 am at The Green [85 Main St, North Adams, MA].
This will be the first time we have gathered in-person since March 8th. Many of us miss seeing each other, serving each other, and singing with each other on a weekly in-person basis. So we are excited for this Sunday.
However, we are also cautious. We are trying to be good stewards of the opportunity our State & Local leaders have offered to Houses of Worship by welcoming us to begin re-gathering people. We are grateful they see the value we can provide our communities. To honor them and their public health policies, we want to do everything we can to comply with the requirements and requests from our elected officials and health professionals. By doing so, we believe we are doing our part to help keep safe any who may choose to worship with us in-person.
Please know that the following requirements will be in place and enforced until further notice:
All attendees over the age of 5 will be required to wear a face mask at all times, unless you have a medical reason that prohibits you from wearing a mask.
Children between the ages of 2-5 can wear a mask at the discretion of their parents/guardians. Children under the age of 2 should not wear a mask.
If you do not have a face mask, we will have new masks available for you to use and keep.
All attendees will be asked to maintain 6 feet of physical distance between yourself and those not part of your immediate family. To accommodate this, we have arranged the seating into “family pods” 6- feet apart from each other.
Shaking hands, hugging, high-fives are not allowed at this time. Virtual hugs and virtual high-fives are encouraged!
We know that our children may not fully understand this rule and may want to run to and play with their friends, so, we will be relying on parents to help guide and direct their children.
All Terra Kids programming is suspended at this time. Additionally, we will not be setting up the nursery & play area in our lobby with shared toys, books, etc. There will be “family pods” in our lobby area for any parent/family with younger children that may be more comfortable with greater space between families than is available in the main worship space.
We will not be providing any food or drink. We are also asking that our attendees refrain from bringing any food to our gathering (with the exception of small snacks parents may wish to provide for their children). You may bring your own water, coffee, tea, etc.
If you or anyone in your family is feeling sick, or has felt sick in the 48- hours prior to Sundays, please stay home (see below for ways to remain connected with us online).
Should you or anyone in your family test positive for COVID-19 after attending a gathering with us, you must notify us immediately so that we can notify other attendees and our local Board of Health.
We will be limiting attendance at The Green to 88 people, 40% of the permitted capacity of 220. We will be counting people to ensure we do not exceed that capacity limit.
Please know that we are working diligently to maintain a safe and healthy environment through these additional & recommended measures:
We also know that some may not be ready to re-gather yet — for many proper reasons. That is good and okay. There is not a “right” or a “wrong” here. You are free to choose how you’d like to worship with us. To assist any who may wish to remain at home, we will also be Live-Streaming our gatherings on Facebook Live. You can tune in and join us on our Facebook Page at 10 am every Sunday until further notice.
At this time, all of our other ministries and gatherings (Bible Groups, Poiema, Imago etc.) will remain as online events until further notice.
We desire to gather and worship our Lord together. While we have been grateful for technology over the past 10-weeks, for many of us, there is simply no substitute to being together in person. We hope the above measures help those who worship with us in person feel safe and those who worship with us remotely feel welcomed.
Whichever you choose, we look forward to exploring faith in & worshiping Jesus Christ together.
Should you have any further questions, comments, concerns, ideas, please email us by clicking on our names below.
Grace and peace to you all,
Paul Gordon, Pastor
Elizabeth Hill, Creative Arts Director