Dear Friends,
It’s been a busy summer at Trinity, adapting to life together at a physical distance, reimagining our life together and making preparations and plans. Your responses to our congregational survey this summer have shaped our plans for worship, learning, and community life this fall, under careful health safeguards mandated by our governor and the Diocese of New Jersey.
Beginning September 13, we expect to resume worship in the church, and to be able to live-stream the services for those at home – thanks in part to many of you who contributed to the expense of installing a camera and upgrading our sound system.
Our Sunday schedule will be:
8:00 a.m. Worship in the church
9:00 a.m. Learning opportunities online*
9:15 a.m. Worship by telephone – call 862-799-9987
10:30 a.m. Worship in the church
*Some youth or adult classes may meet online at different times.
Both Sunday services will available as live-streams on our website, Facebook page, and YouTube channel. You’ll be able to attend online at the time the service is live, or view a recording of the service later in the day. We’ll still be experimenting with the technology that supports all this, so expect a few glitches and changes as we get settled over the next few weeks.
Registration:
To attend any worship service in person, you must register on the church website during the week before that service. Registration opens on Tuesday and closes when capacity is reached and no later than 8:00 am on Saturday. Please do not arrive at church expecting a seat unless you have registered and received a confirmation email for that service, as we will not be able to accommodate walk-ins.
If you have difficulty using online registration, please contact Deacon Leslie Mazzacano (856-235-0811; lmazzacano@trinitymoorestown.org), who will assign someone to help you register on an ongoing basis. If you are able and willing to be a registration buddy, please let Deacon Leslie know.
Because seating in the church will be limited to 45 people per service, we ask that anyone who has attended a service wait until Friday to register for another service in the following two weeks, to give everyone who wants it the opportunity to attend in person.
Seating will be by size of group (one, two, or three-five persons). We have allocated group seating based on results from the survey this summer, and will adjust if needed over the course of the fall.
Worship Details:
Both services will be Morning Prayer on the last Sunday of the month, and Holy Eucharist (with an option for spiritual communion rather than physically receiving the bread) all other Sundays. Our survey showed that many people ready to return to in-person worship are not yet ready to share communion physically. Organ music will accompany all services, but for safety reasons, there will be no singing by the congregation or choir (we may add choir soloists in the future).
Learning:
All are invited to participate in our “All In” multi-generational learning opportunities on the first Sunday of every month from 9 – 10 a.m. We’ll have online activities for all ages to enjoy together around that Sunday’s theme and scripture. Children’s Sunday School will be offered online between 9- 10 a.m. on the second and fourth Sundays of the month. J2A and Rite 13 classes will be scheduled separately on Sundays, as will adult Bible Study and other education programs. Watch the weekly announcements for details and schedules.
Other activities:
At this time, we expect that current safeguards like masking and physical distancing will be in place into next year, so we are planning for primarily online ways of connecting for fellowship, meetings, and learning throughout the week.
As the health climate in our country continues to be unpredictable, our plans may have to change if conditions and circumstances around us change. We will communicate any updates and changes to Trinity’s plans by email and mail.
We appreciate all your engagement, support and flexibility during these challenging times. If you have any thoughts or suggestions, please feel free to email any of us. We look forward to being together with you in new ways as this year unfolds!
Sincerely,
The Rev. Emily Mellott, Rector (emellott@trinitymoorestown.org)
Nancy Matthews, Warden (nancyamatthews@comcast.net)
Elizabeth Louie, Warden (elizabethlouie@comcast.net)