From the Pastor - April 16
Dear Ebenezer Friends,
Your Council and Staff continue to make preparations for a limited, in-person worship service at 10:00 a.m. Sundays, beginning May 2nd. First, I'd like to describe for you what to expect from the experience, and second, what restrictions and precautions will be in place to ensure health and safety for ourselves and our neighbors.
All online offerings, including weekly liturgy, fellowship time with Holy Communion online, and Wednesday Bible Study will remain available as they currently stand.
What to expect from the in-person liturgy:
Music will be offered identically to the online service, using the same video and sound recordings.
The pastor(s) and other ministers will speak their parts live. However, assisting ministers and lectors not yet ready to attend in person will have their parts played in the sanctuary as video clips as well. No volunteers will be excluded because they choose not to attend in person.
The liturgy will likely be shorter than our normal experience.
Limited gatherings for education and Sunday School will be phased in as seems prudent.
If Chicago's test positivity rate exceeds 8% for more than one week, in person worship will be suspended.
Here are some of the health and safety measures that will be in place:
Volunteer ushers will greet you outside the sanctuary to record your contact tracing information.
Liturgies will be limited to 50 people, and you'll receive information to sign up to attend by the previous Friday. Should more than 50 people wish to attend, we will implement a second worship time to accomodate more people.
Pews will be marked for safe seating, and 12 of those who are able will be asked to sit in the balcony.
Masks will be required at all times. Communion will be included in the liturgy, but rather than consumed indoors, will be distributed to be taken to-go.
Physically sharing the peace, singing, and unison speaking will be avoided for the time being.
While vaccination is not required to attend, we would encourage those still unvaccinated to consider continuing to make use of the online liturgy.
We will operate indoors in an environment of loving, mutual accountability regarding health and safety.
I look forward to seeing those ready to attend in a few weeks. And as always, thank you for being a community so committed to one and another.
In Christ's peace,
Pastor Michael