Current Guidelines for Worshiping Together
Christ is Risen! We are finally able to return to services at Holy Transfiguration! We will be following both the guidelines of the local government (state and municipality) and our Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco in an effort to return to worship services as safely as possible. While much is still unknown about the pandemic, how long it will last and what it will take to assure we are safe from contracting the virus, we are going to take measures to open the church so we can return to worshiping together as a parish family.
As of this writing, we are allowed to gather up to 50 people in a space as long as we maintain social distancing of 6 feet between family units. We have arranged the rows of chairs in the church to abide by this protocol as long as each family unit separates themselves from the next family by 3 chairs (or 4 tiles) if sitting in the same row. Parish Council members will be present to help direct families to appropriate seating and will count to assure we do not violate the 50 person rule. When the 50 person capacity is reached, we will direct new arrivals (and any families with very active toddlers) to the church hall where we will be livestreaming the service from upstairs. We request that each family unit occupy one table to abide by the social distancing rule. Because of our inability to upstream and downstream at the same time, we will not be providing live streaming of the services on the internet once we open the doors to the public.
Parish Council members will be ushering the Communion line to allow one family unit at a time to receive Communion. When Father has administered Communion to all who wish to receive it upstairs, he will go downstairs and administer Communion to one family unit at a time. Please remain at your table until called upon, again, to assure we follow the guidelines. We must maintain the social distancing rule or we may be forced by the local authorities to shut the doors. We must also all wear masks while in the building. We ask that each person bring their own masks. It is our intent to have cloth masks available for donation if you don’t have one. If you do not wish to wear a mask, you will be asked to leave the building.
It is important to remember that these guidelines are not in place to protect just ourselves, but all of our members and 100% compliance must be maintained in order to keep the doors open. In addition to social distancing measures and wearing masks, we will be providing hand sanitizer in multiple areas and will be sanitizing high touch surfaces at least once an hour.
Please venerate the icons from a distance and resist the urge to kiss them or touch them. A parish council member will hand out candles, just tell them how many you want and you may light them and place them in the candle stand yourself. We will not pass a basket, but will place it in the Narthex where you may place your donations. Remember, you can also donate via PayPal. Other options for donating include setting up payments directly from your checking or savings account. Your contributions are greatly appreciated, thank you.
Things will be different for some time. As the guidelines change, we will change with them. Please bear with us as we work to open the doors and keep them open. It is important to be respectful to each other during this as each of us may deal with the effects in different ways. God bless you all as we return to our lovely church and worship our Lord God and Savior, Jesus Christ, together once again.