Dear Siblings in Christ,
It is with great joy that we prepare for our first in-person worship service since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic 15 months ago. We look forward to welcoming worshippers back to Shepherd of the Hills on Sunday, June 6 at 9 a.m. Registration is not required for worship, and there is no limit to the number of people in the building at once.
A few things will be different from our pre-pandemic worship service:
- You may enter the building through any door, but masks will be required upon entry.
- Before entering the sanctuary, you will be invited to take a bulletin and a pre-packaged communion cup.
- In order to create social distance, the pews have been arranged to be six feet apart from each other.
- Offerings will be collected in a plate at the entrance to the sanctuary.
- Holy Communion will be shared at our seats, and we will not pass the peace.
- We will ask worshippers to fill out an attendance slip and place it in a basket on the way out of worship. This helps us with contact tracing as well as our own attendance records.
- There will be no coffee time following worship.
There will still be an online option to worship live at 9:00 a.m. The worship service will be livestreamed from the Shepherd of the Hills ELCA St Louis YouTube channel. You are encouraged to click the “subscribe” button for our channel in order to get notifications when a livestream begins. Later in the day on Sunday, the video recording will also be linked on our church Facebook page.
During this time of transition, we ask for your patience and understanding as we work out any issues that may arise. As time goes on, we will continue to adjust our guidelines and practices.
If you have any further questions about our return to in-person worship, please contact me at prkristen@sothstl.org.
Thank you to everyone who has supported the work of Shepherd of the Hills during this difficult time, and we prayerfully ask for your continued support.
I look forward to worshipping with you on Sunday!
-Pastor Kristen Koch