Sunday guidelines

Saint Philip’s Vestry recently approved the following changes to our Sunday worship guidelines. Here they are, effective Sunday, July 18:

1. Masks will no longer be required at the 7:45 service for fully vaccinated people.

2. Masks will continue to be required for everyone at the 10:00 service.

3. Any group using a room at less than 50% of the room’s capacity will not be required to mask.

4. Parish ministries and groups will be able to reserve rooms for meetings and gatherings beginning July 18.

5. Communion will be administered in both kinds, Bread and Wine, however if Wine is received it will be intincted (dipped into the chalice) by the minister (who will have applied hand sanitizer) and given in a manner as to avoid countless hands going into the chalice. Of course, it is always more than acceptable to only receive the Bread.

6. Coffee hour will resume in the Murphey Gallery with coffee and individually wrapped treats available and all doors open for ventilation. Hand-sanitizing will be available prior to and following serving coffee. Seating at the round tables will be limited to four people per table.

Unvaccinated individuals should continue to wear masks at church at all times.

As more research comes out about singing and spread, given that there is no vaccine approved for children yet, and as the Delta variant of the virus has proven itself to be far more communicable, it seems wise to continue to have masking at 10:00am.

All changes are compatible with the June 18, 2021, Diocesan guidelines available here.

Our Covenant of Care, which outlines how we will exercise our responsibility to one another, is available in the next story, or by using this link.

The subcommittee will continue to meet to review the data coming in, especially around the Delta variant and other variants, and continue to assess the protocols for update. Our expectation is that we will release an update in August as well.