The UUFCM board has voted that worship services continue to be online only for the next six months (June through November). This decision is informed by the recommendations from the UUA. Their work is comprehensive and worth looking at. They recommend shutting down worship for the next 11 months, and we have decided to go with 6 months, re-evaluating in November.
The main reasons behind this decision are, first, that worship (unlike shopping for groceries) is not essential. Since there is risk of infection even with masks and social distancing, the risk outweighs the benefit. Second, gathering for worship is an inherently high-risk event, with a group of people in an indoor space for more than an hour. Third, a partial re-opening of worship would tend to include some people and exclude others–so the decision to put off worship for a longer time is more inclusive. We want to re-open when everyone can be here safely. Finally, deciding to close worship for six months lets us move on with planning. This is the new normal; this is how we gather our congregation now. Since we know we are doing this for the long haul, we can focus on doing it even better: more love, more justice, and more inclusion in our online space.
The main reasons behind this decision are, first, that worship (unlike shopping for groceries) is not essential. Since there is risk of infection even with masks and social distancing, the risk outweighs the benefit. Second, gathering for worship is an inherently high-risk event, with a group of people in an indoor space for more than an hour. Third, a partial re-opening of worship would tend to include some people and exclude others–so the decision to put off worship for a longer time is more inclusive. We want to re-open when everyone can be here safely. Finally, deciding to close worship for six months lets us move on with planning. This is the new normal; this is how we gather our congregation now. Since we know we are doing this for the long haul, we can focus on doing it even better: more love, more justice, and more inclusion in our online space.
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