On May 18, Governor Baker included houses of worship among those sectors that have been permitted to resume (with guidelines). We are grateful to God and to Governor Baker that churches are able to worship together in person once again.
At this time, we are planning a gradual return to in-person services, and will continue our 10am and 1pm live-stream services indefinitely. We are anticipating that all services will continue to be live-streamed even after we are able to gather without restriction. Please note, there will be no in-person worship service on May 24th.
There are two primary considerations as we consider resuming in-person services. First, we are concerned for the holistic health of all of our congregants, including physical health. As we return, we want to do so with wisdom and love for the sick and the healthy. We moved to becoming a virtual community before the Governor ordered shelter-in-place, and we will seek to continue to exercise wisdom and love now that the order has been lifted vis-a-vis houses of worship. Second, we have many congregants who are physically unable to worship with us in person as they are either front-line workers who are socially isolating otherwise, or have been scattered to other parts of the nation/world.
At the same time, there is great value in being physically present to one another in worship. Our goal will be to return to physical gatherings as quickly and safely as possible, while being inclusive of those who are not able to gather in person.
We ask for your prayers as Symphony staff consults with congregants (expect a survey soon) and considers how to best resume in-person community. We are considering a number of different options, including additional services, house-church type gatherings, and outdoor services. We will keep our congregation informed as our plans become more concrete.