What to Expect at SOTH This Christmas Eve
12/18/21
Dear Members and Friends of Shepherd of the Hills,
As we round the corner onto Christmas week, we are anticipating a joyful and inspirational offering of Christmas Eve worship services. This year, services will be celebrated at 7:00 pm and 8:30 pm. In addition to in-person worship, our Christmas Eve liturgy will be offered live via internet transmission (as we do every Sunday morning) and archived on our YouTube channel. https://www.youtube.com/
Public safety concern: Traditionally, SOTH experiences a much larger volume of worship attendees on Christmas Eve than at any other time of the year. That being noted, we are all aware of a recent upsurge in reported cases of the Omicron and Delta covid variants, which can spread in a confined area such as our sanctuary. With these concerns (and others) in mind please be respectful of the following modifications for Christmas Eve worship:
– Attendees will be advised to maintain physical distancing and refrain from hugging and hand shaking.
-The wearing of facial masks is strongly encouraged.
-Communion will be offered via the individual sealed communion kits which are disposable.
-Battery-powered candles will be utilized for the candlelight portion of the service.
With respect to the last bullet point above, the CDC and the ELCA warn that use of traditional flamed candles encourages the collective extinguishing of such candles at the conclusion of the service. Since covid is spread primarily through breath aerosol, it is inadvisable to collectively “blow out” candles simultaneously in a confined area containing several people. Hence the need to avoid sharing candles with flames this year.
Everyone knows the pandemic has not disappeared (yet)…so it is better to exercise caution whenever and wherever large crowds assemble for worship, especially with respect to Christmas Eve.
On typical Sunday mornings, we do not experience extremely high attendance levels, thus making it easier to physically distance and observe standard CDC guidelines. Therefore, the modifications listed above will pertain to Christmas Eve only.
I wish you a safe, inspirational, and joyful Christmas celebration this year, and hope to see you on Christmas Eve! May God richly bless you and your loved ones during this holiday season.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Jack