Hope Central Church

Hope Central Church Returning to our Sanctuary, Sunday Worship, 10:30AM, October 10, 2021

We welcome all!

We are thrilled to return to that sacred space. Please come prepared to be masked and physically distant. We will continue worship on Zoom, as well, serving those unable to come due to preference, distance or illness.

• Worship will resume in our sanctuary on 10/10/2021.

• We will rely on four primary mitigation strategies - vaccination, masking, physical distance, and ventilation.

  • Full vaccination for in-person worship is highly recommended. Some won’t or can’t be vaccinated, and may be more at risk for illness. Folks who find and feel themselves more at risk will make decisions concerning their own protection and the protection of others, including choosing to worship on zoom or sitting in a designated space in the sanctuary. The designation will serve to remind all of the heightened risk to some of our congregation.

  • All will come and remain masked, including while singing, except for worship leaders when actively leading: preaching, reading scripture, speaking. Masks will be available for persons arriving at the sanctuary without their own mask.

  • In the sanctuary, people will sit in pods of friends/families, and physically six feet away from other pods. Currently, every other pew is blocked.

  • Weather permitting, the windows in the sanctuary will be open. Inquiries are being made into the efficacy, and the cost of renting or buying air purifiers.

• Persons experiencing these symptoms of Covid or Flu will attend services on zoom and not in person:

  • Fever or chills

  • Cough

  • Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing

  • Fatigue

  • Muscle or body aches

  • Headache

  • New loss of taste or smell

  • Sore throat

  • Congestion or runny nose

  • Nausea or vomiting

  • Diarrhea

• All attending our worship service in the Sanctuary will sign in for the purpose of contact tracing if necessary.

• Hand sanitizer will be available at the welcome table, in the pews, and before the communion table.

• Should a person find themselves to be infected after being present in our sanctuary, that person will contact Laura Ruth. The infected person’s identity will be kept except for contact tracing. Laura Ruth will consult with Jill Seaman Chandler to determine if contact tracing is necessary.

• The Peace will be passed in this way. All who wish to pass the peace by hand shakes or hugs can enter the aisle - center or sides and the front or back of the sanctuary. All who wish to pass the peace by a wave, hug, bow, or sign will stay in their pew.

• Communion will be served in individual, pre-packaged servings, by receiving bread and intinction from a masked celebrant, or by bringing one's own communion.

• The practice of coffee time will not be offered at this time, but will be begun when data, experience, and public health friends deem this practice safe.

• These policies will be revised as necessary according to infection rates, the collective experience and wisdom of our people, the advice of our denominations and our public health friends.

Our resources are encapsulated here: https://www.sneucc.org/newsdetail/september-covid-updates-for-churches-15464806

The City of Boston’s COVID tracker, which includes a weekly breakdown by neighborhood of cases and vaccination statuses: https://analytics.boston.gov/app/boston-covid

Reparations Work at Hope Central

Dear Beloved,

Hope Central has been thinking about reparations for a few years. We have found the practice of reparations in our scripture - the practice of Jubilee (Leviticus 25), the caring and releasing those in bondage (Luke 4:18-18), and in our vows to care for one another (Isaiah 61:1-2, Psalm 147:3 and I Corinthians 12).

To read more about what we are currently implementing and imagining for the future, click here.

Love,

Rev. Laura Ruth Jarrett, Senior Pastor

All are welcome.

Hope Central Church is a dynamic, spirited, progressive, inclusive Christian faith community seeking justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God (Micah 6:8).