Dear St. John's Community,
I hope you have enjoyed your Thanksgiving, and that you are ready to embark with us into the season of Advent as we journey towards Christmas.
As you surely know, the Mayor has updated the mask mandate for DC, allowing businesses and organizations to decide for themselves whether to require masks indoors or not. Because worship is such an important part of our life together, and we want to continue to make the most vulnerable among us as safe as possible, we will continue the practice of wearing masks during all services. This will allow worship to be as welcoming and safe as reasonably possible.
The one change that we will see is that, as the weather is now significantly colder, we will be bringing our coffee hour indoors starting this Sunday. Mask wearing will be encouraged, but out of necessity for a gathering with food and drink it will not be absolutely mandatory.
One thing that we have learned is that safety operates cumulatively. The more that people are vaccinated and the more mask wearing that is practiced, the safer everybody in the whole community will be. As Christians, it is absolutely essential that we consider the most vulnerable among us in all that we do. There is no such thing as absolute safety, but with these practices we can limit risk considerably without undue burden.
Thank you for helping us care for one another.
I look forward to seeing those of you who can join us this Sunday!
God's peace,
Rob+
