Dear CGS Family –

This Week's Quest: 

1) We are continuing our weekly CGS derrière plebiscite.  Unassailably democratic, because everyone has their own personal ballot -- Ha!... Here’s a simple synopsis of the process :  

  • Each Sunday as our CGS family gathers for worship in our sanctuary, we are collectively “voting” about our needs and preferences by virtue of where we actually choose to seat ourselves.

  • Each Sunday’s “votes” are tallied, and then the Phantoms of the Opera gather during the subsequent week – using eye of newt and toe of frog for discernment  – and make modest but learned adjustments to our “Congregational Seating Chart” for the upcoming Sunday… 

2) The purpose of these machinations is to arrive – without the passage of too many more weeks – at a stable portrait of CGS’s actual seating needs for our weekly Sunday worship hour.  Representative questions include:

  • What overall seating plan safely optimizes the number of persons in our church family who can worship together at the same hour in our sanctuary? 

  • Can we construct a plan that distributes our available types of seating locations – e.g. front of the plane / back of the plane / aisle seats / window seats -- equitably among all our potential “passengers” each Sunday? 

3) Our current Sunday “snapshots” are – admittedly – crude predictors.  Weekly attendance in the summer is variable, as travel and family vacations punctuate our collective calendars.  And all the more so amidst this current summer of "COVID reprieve”.  Nevertheless, these Sunday “snapshots” are still the best data that we have at our disposal.  And preliminary assessment suggests that:

  • At present, we have more than adequate seating for those who wish to worship in areas where masking and spatial separation are preserved.  

  • But our seating for those able to sit in more dense configurations may have become insufficient to meet the potential demand.

Our Adjustments for this Sunday: 

1) Overall Nutshell:   

  • a) Balcony reserved entirely for masked/spaced seating.

  • b) Directly underneath the balcony reserved entirely for pre-COVID seating configurations.  No mandatory spacing.  Masks optional.

  • c) Remainder of the main sanctuary floor, no change. 

2) Balcony Redux:  

We will continue to preserve the balcony for  i) families who have one or more children below the age of 12 years, and/or  ii) those persons whose health profiles render them otherwise particularly vulnerable.  We are doing this because airflow dynamics in the balcony are more advantageous than elsewhere in our sanctuary.

  • Please note:  All such families and persons are also of course welcome to sit on the main floor of the sanctuary instead, if they so prefer!  The balcony is being presented as an option – an experimental “elective” – not a mandate (see the rationale, below).  

  • Alternating pews will remain unoccupied throughout the entire balcony, and 6 feet of distance will be preserved between differing groups of persons.  Masks are required for persons old enough to safely wear them.  (The 3-5 volunteers directly involved in managing the audio-video booth will have latitude regarding their masks, as warranted).

3) Underneath the Balcony, Redux: 

On the main sanctuary floor, all of the seats immediately underneath the balcony overhang – on both the right and the left of the center aisle – will be available for persons comfortable sitting in conventional seating configurations.  Masks are optional.

  • This arrangement allows us to reclaim seating space for conventional seating configurations that was surrendered in the balcony

4) Remainder of the Main Sanctuary Floor, Redux:

On the main sanctuary floor in front of the balcony overhang (i.e. between the balcony overhang and the rostrum/pulpit), seating will continue to be configured as previously:

  • On the left side of the center aisle, every pew is available for seating, and no mandatory spacing will be required between differing groups of persons on any given pew.  Masks are optional.

  • On the right side of the center aisle, alternating pews will remain unoccupied, and 6 feet of distance will be preserved between differing groups of persons.  All persons who choose to sit on the right-hand side of the main sanctuary floor will care for each other by remaining masked thru the entirety of the service.  


What’s Next in the Weeks Ahead? 

The next 2-3 “weekly snapshots” of our actual attendance and actual chosen seating preferences will – hopefully – allow us to settle into a final “summer seating chart” after the 11th of July.  We will of course retain the flexibility to make additional modest modifications as conditions warrant between now and September.  

For this Sunday, June 20, we have prepared both an entry schematic as well as an exit schematic (i.e. overhead or “birds-eye” views) that show our sanctuary seating and the paths or  “thoroughfares” leading from the main outside entrance to particular seating areas (special distancing  vs   pre-COVID seating): 

  • If you are interested in being seated in areas where all of the following apply -- alternating pews are unoccupied, 6 feet of distance is preserved between differing groups of persons, and masks are being worn – please bear to your right as you enter the front sanctuary doors.  Signage, guide-ropes, and our friendly ushers will all combine to provide you with easy, simple access to your desired seating (either in the balcony or on the right front of the main floor).

  • Analogously, if you are comfortable being seated in areas where no mandatory spacing is required and masks are optional, please bear to your left as you enter the front sanctuary doors.  Signage, guide-ropes, and our friendly ushers will all combine to provide you with easy, simple access to your desired seating (either under the balcony or on the left front of the main floor)


Parting Shots

Thank you for your continued patience: we anticipate being able to suspend these seating "experiments" within the next few weeks.  And soon thereafter we will hopefully all have become comfortable with these new rhythms and patterns, and will find ourselves navigating seamlessly!

Nevertheless, we all recognize that alterations in viral prevalence – as well as mutations among viral subtypes -- may alter the North Carolina healthcare landscape for our CGS family again as autumn approaches.  

  • But no worries:  we will simply adapt to such conditions as they present themselves!  

We have learned a great deal about our flexibility and our common covenantal commitment to each other as members of one body – Christ’s – during this COVID season.  And the lessons apprehended have been marked by grace and charity!

Godspeed – 
Glenn