Community Life During Pandemic

Dear All Souls Community,

We want to take a moment to continue our communication regarding how we are navigating this Covid season as a church. Many of you have had to engage in many transitions with school, work, and community life. It has not been easy but we have witnessed the resilience of this community. Thank you for the ways you have continued to show up for each other--whether through Sunday morning zoom services, outdoor small groups, bringing dinners to those in need, or serving with our city partners. This community is amazing! 
 
Also, thank you for taking time for the survey and letting us know what you think and how you’re feeling--it meant a lot to hear from you. Most of you expressed a desire to be together. You also voiced your concern around the risk of gathering, the difficulty in following guidelines (particularly with kids), and the challenge and potential disappointment of gathering with restrictions. And some of you prefer continuing with our Zoom meetings. We hear you! We long to gather and we want to make that happen. We will also honor your needs and concerns and the safety of our city. And so to spearhead finding ways to gather we have developed a brilliant group we are calling the Reimagine Gathering team.
 
Our Reimagine Gathering team is focusing on our options for gathering outdoors, indoors, and online (for worship and socializing). Our leaders are actively exploring the safest and most meaningful ways to be together in-person. We are looking into beautiful outdoor locations and partnering with the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Church (who are just now starting to meet in person and indoors). The team is working to ensure we are adhering to state and local guidelines, and learning best practices from other communities. Our plan is to mitigate risk, set a good example, and at the same time find meaning and comfort in gathering together. We are excited to start by celebrating All Souls (or All Saints) Day for our first gathering and special outdoor service on the afternoon of November 1st. Mark your calendars! 
 
Please thank our Reimagine Gathering team: Leah Cousin, Kyle Gach, Susan Grant, John Patton, and Deb Pierce for their work. As they continue in this work please bring your questions to our leaders and to our October 25th Congregational Meeting. And as always, as your life is being affected during this season we want to support each other. If you have any needs or concerns don’t hesitate to reach out.  
 
If you are interested, these are a few of the resources we are using to direct our guidelines. 
https://www.bouldercounty.org/families/disease/covid-19/
https://covid19.colorado.gov/worship-guidance
 
Articles featuring Shelly Miller, SDA member and CU professor of mechanical engineering:
https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/air-vents-coronavirus/
https://www.npr.org/2020/08/10/888945949/is-singing-together-safe-in-the-era-of-coronavirus-not-really-experts-say