June 29, 2020
To our FUS Community,
Just over a hundred days ago, we shared our intentions to temporarily close the Meeting House and open our virtual doors, inviting us to navigate the effects of this pandemic in a new form of togetherness.
For some, this time has ushered in a surreal solitude that has resulted in a need for connection. Through weekly meditation groups, check-ins with the ministers, small groups, support groups, and music, we’ve strived to stay connected. For many of us, there have been meaningful connections bringing moments of joy, laughter, comfort, and support. Some of us have experienced profound losses during this time – jobs, loved ones, hope. Ministry sometimes looks like a loving voicemail that needs no reply, a shawl on your doorstep, and the reminder that you are always welcome here. That “here” has always been in the hearts of our fellow community members and has never really been about a building.
This time also calls us more fully into our larger connections as we benefit from the thoughtful and informed recommendations from the Unitarian Universalist Association. In mid-May, UUA President the Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray shared the UUA’s recommendation that congregations plan for virtual operations through May 2021. She wrote, “Public health officials consistently predict a long trajectory for this pandemic. A majority of our congregational members, leaders, and staff members are in high-risk categories. Our care for the well-being and safety of all our members and staff must be a priority in this pandemic.”
The letter introduces the detailed UUA Guidelines on Gathering In Person as COVID-19 Subsides document, intended to help congregations determine readiness plans for eventual gatherings. It encourages us to think of our congregations as primarily digitally-connected communities, with small in-person nodes that grow as the pandemic subsides. Our leadership team, in collaboration with local physicians, other UU congregations, staff, and lay leaders, has been deeply and deliberately engaged in a discernment process about what the next year holds. As local public health conditions allow, we’ve asked how can we support members who wish to gather together as safely as possible in small groups while keeping our commitment to inclusivity? How can we provide opportunities for higher-risk populations to participate when in-person events occur and ensure that virtual-only participants aren’t marginalized?
Together, we’ve created the FUS Agreement for Safer Small Groups intended to guide community interactions in this new era. This living document is much like the sacred covenants that guide our commitments to one another. Given the tremendous importance of our collective compliance with these ideals and actions, it will be shared regularly – posted on doors and read at the onset of each meeting. Though our community wholeheartedly embraces the diversity of beliefs, we continue to live into our commitment to protect the most vulnerable amongst us. Please familiarize yourself with these agreements and reach out to our leadership team with questions or concerns. We must remain in loving dialogue.
Given the uncertainty of these times and the ever-evolving public health conditions, it is challenging to make definitive plans for the future. We must all remain nimble. At this time, we intend to begin allowing one group, of 10 or fewer individuals, into the FUS facility each day, starting September 1, with the understanding that all in-person gatherings must also include a virtual Zoom option. For more details, please read the FUS Agreement for Safer Small Groups document.
We anticipate that worship services will continue virtually for the foreseeable future, as will CRE classes (except Mind, Body & Soul and Coming of Age). We recognize that this a continued source of loss for many of us, and we also hold in our hearts gratitude for the ways our new virtual gatherings offer unexpected joy and connection. Did you know that the virtual coffee hours held each Sunday after service include a 15-minute check-in with a few other participants? Despite the distance, we continue to grow in our relationships with one another.
Thank you for continuing to be in a relationship with us, with each other, and striving to embody the principles we hold so dearly.
In community and in hope,
Rev. Doug Wadkins, Rev. Kelly Crocker, and Monica Nolan
