5/14/21
Dear People of St. James’,
By now, you have probably heard that new CDC guidelines indicate that fully vaccinated individuals no longer need to mask or maintain social distancing, indoors or outdoors – with a couple exceptions.
The clergy of the Diocese of Texas have been alerted that new guidelines will come from the diocesan office next week. In the meantime, I have spoken with our wardens, Rudy Green and Teresa Chang, about how to prepare ourselves and you all for this Sunday.
For the time being, we will continue to require masks, regardless of vaccination status, during worship, with the exceptions we have been making for vaccinated singers and preachers. We will continue to encourage people to maintain respectful and mutual boundaries during the peace. We do this out of caution, an ethos of equity, and love for each other, knowing that some age groups (children) have not yet had the opportunity to get vaccinated.
We are making one change this Sunday at the 10:30 service. Given this announcement, we want to be prepared for the possibility that we may have more parishioners show up than our 25% capacity (72 people). [I am not expecting that we’d have many more than that, but we want to be prepared.] We don’t want to turn people away when we can still worship together safely, while respecting different comfort levels. We are St. James’. Therefore, the two sections of the church will be designated for people who are committed to maintaining social distancing for whatever reason. Two sections will be open to those who don’t mind sitting less than 6 ft apart from their neighbors because the social distancing recommendation no longer applies to them. We will remove the signage that blocks off every other pew in these sections. Having sections will allow people choice according to their comfort levels and their understanding of how CDC guidelines apply to them, while allowing us the opportunity to seat everyone, even if a few more than 72 people show up for the service. Additional ushers will be on hand to guide you, and we hope that you will show up early so that we can seat people in a way that maximizes everyone’s comfort.
I am sure that there will be many other implications for us regarding the new guidelines, but for now, we will wait on diocesan guidance, have careful conversations with the network of congregational leaders of different denominations with whom we have been consulting throughout the pandemic, and have some open conversation together before making further changes.
I am looking forward to celebrating Thurgood Marshall Sunday/Ascension Day with you! As always, I am here to hear from you. If you would like to have a conversation so that you can get a better picture of what to expect at any of our services, email rector@stjamesaustin.org.
The Rev. Eileen O’Brien
