{"id":14120,"date":"2020-09-02T11:49:39","date_gmt":"2020-09-02T15:49:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fccej.org\/v5\/?p=14120"},"modified":"2020-09-02T11:49:41","modified_gmt":"2020-09-02T15:49:41","slug":"covid19-update-september-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fccej.org\/v5\/covid19-update-september-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID19 UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dear Friends<\/em>: Despite wanting so very much to\nphysically worship together, the Executive Committee of the Church Council has\npostponed the date when we will gather back together in the sanctuary.  We are now hoping to be in the sanctuary for\nAdvent, which starts on November 29th<\/sup>.  How joyful it would be to enter the church\nwith the Christmas decorations up and our building looking so good!  Naturally, the Executive Committee (EC) will\nmeet in early November to look at what the scientists, doctors and the Vermont\nDepartment of Health say and then re-evaluate the situation at that time.   Despite our strong desire to be together,\nour primary consideration is the health and welfare of our members and friends\nand the control of this deadly disease. \nAs all of you in your daily lives know, we are adapting and changing our\nplans as the future unfolds and we will do the best we can in making decisions\nin the best interests of First Church. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are also\ncautiously opening up our church space to various groups within our church and\ncommunity as long as everyone present follows safe practices by wearing masks\nand keeping proper distances.  Last week\nwe had a funeral service with 37 people attending: all wearing masks, all\nfollowing safe distancing protocols and with the fellowship time outside.  The Food Pantry continues to distribute food\nbut does so while all their clients stay in their cars.  Creative Discoveries Early Care and Education\nCenter is meeting in their space and not venturing into our part of the\nbuilding.  The scouts have been meeting\nbut mainly outside except for a few very small groups.  We also had a wonderful Nearly New Sale,\nThrift Store Porch Sale, and Church Tour day on August 22, but these events\nwere outside, and tours were tightly controlled.  The EC just approved one other group and one\npersonal event to take place in our midst. \nSlowly, our facility is opening up to small groups – with safety for our\nmembers and visitors forefront in our intentions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps the\nbiggest addition to our building use is the Rec Kids Supported Learning Spaces\nProgram that the Essex Junction Recreation and Parks Department, in partnership\nwith the school system, is providing for families in the Essex community. This\nvaluable program will provide childcare for families who need care for their\nchildren on days that they are not in school. \nSummit Street students will be using our third-floor rooms, gym,\nrestrooms and outside green space for this well-received and appreciated\nprogram.  EJRP will clean the space each\nday and the number of kids will be limited to how many can safely meet.  For the church to participate in such a\nprogram and meet the community\u2019s needs is a great opportunity and it\u2019s a\nwonderful testament for our church to be thought of as a possible site.  All of us will need to adjust what we do to\nmake this vital initiative work but we can do it! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Unfortunately, many of our groups are larger\nthan can safely meet right now, and many of the ways we interact with each\nother are conducive to the spread of the disease: we talk, eat, hug, sing, and\nmeet in small rooms for hours.  But the\nstaff and lay leaders are looking for ways to draw people together.  Josh and Laurie have been taking the youth groups\non hikes, Josh and I have provided pastoral walks and visits in chairs under\ntrees, Laurie and CE will be having on site Faith Formation once a month\noutside, Carol and the choir are looking at parking lot choir rehearsals,\nhospitality is thinking about having coffee and cocoa outside on Sunday\nmornings for those who attend \u2018drive-in\u2019 church services in the parking lot,\nand Josh sits and has lunch with a small group of folks on Mondays. In many\nways we are busier and providing more support to our community than we were\npre-COVID!  We are all working to keep\nthe church vibrant, active and our people connected to each other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you have\nquestions, concerns, ideas, or insights, please pass them along to one of our\nstaff members or lay leaders.  If you are\nfeeling particularly isolated, let us know so that we can use the church\u2019s many\nresources to support you.  Together, our\nchurch has been strengthened through this time of stress and together we will\nremain an ever growing and vibrant member of the Essex community.  Thank you all for shouldering the weight of\nchange and continuing to make First Church a great community in which to\nbelong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We, as your\nExecutive Committee, will do our best to continue to keep you informed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christ\u2019s\nblessings be with you all,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Executive\nCommittee of the Church Council<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maureen Evans, Cathy\nShearer, Christine Sinkewicz, Ann Gray, Alison Wermer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Josh Simon [ex\nofficio] & Mark Mendes [ex officio]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Friends: Despite wanting so very much to physically worship together, the Executive Committee of the Church Council has postponed the date when we will gather back together in the sanctuary.  We are now hoping to be in the sanctuary for Advent, which starts on November 29th.  How joyful it would be to enter the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church-life-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fccej.org\/v5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fccej.org\/v5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fccej.org\/v5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fccej.org\/v5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fccej.org\/v5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14120"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.fccej.org\/v5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14122,"href":"https:\/\/www.fccej.org\/v5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14120\/revisions\/14122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fccej.org\/v5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fccej.org\/v5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fccej.org\/v5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}