Worship services have moved indoors to the sanctuary with the windows open, and the congregation is requested to be masked and vaccinated. We can spread out using additional seating set up in the parish hall. Coffee hour will be a social time but without refreshments; additional protections may be requested.
Services will be continue to be streamed.
Our prior routine:
People start to gather before the 10:30 Sunday morning service, to prepare for choir, for teaching the kids, and to put on the coffee. Greeters will welcome you at the door, and will help newcomers get comfortable. The kids will ring the bell in the tower, and we are all seated with programs in hand at 10:30.
We begin with music and a prayerful call to worship; somebody lights the chalice and shares a reading of their own choosing, and we recite our covenant together. The minister will lead announcements. The choir performs a hymn or spiritual, and then we gather the children for a "Story For All Ages", which often prepares them for their class focus and the adults for the theme of the sermon—then off go the children and teachers to their classrooms (or, with Covid restrictions, to the outdoor classroom) for the remainder of the service. For special services, we might remain multigenerational.
The service continues, with additional readings from humanist and spiritual sources, a sermon from our minister Pam Barz, prayer and meditation, and of course, more music. We do a collection to support the works of the church, which includes pledges from members, and donations to the Scituate Food Pantry and other organizations.
Parents and children reunite around 11:30 for lively fellowship at Coffee Hour in our Old Sloop Room (under Covid restrictions, gathering is currently limited and distanced).