Friends,
This is Holy Week, and before I get too far into this letter I want to invite you to join Talitha on Maundy Thursday and me on Good Friday as we lead online services marking Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Information will be forthcoming: keep checking your email and you will see links to the YouTube video play lists for both services which, like Sunday celebrations, can be watched anytime after they go live.
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At our family hour on Palm Sunday I promised to give you an update on plans for re-opening Montclair Presbyterian Church, and I’m going to give you the update but as do, please understand that your safety and the safety of our community are of primary importance to us. If there is another spike in COVID-19 cases and/or deaths, we may have to change what we are allowing at MPC, but for now, in accordance with guidelines for the Centers for Disease Control, the State of California and Alameda County we are allowing small groups of under 15 people to meet with masks and social distancing outside at Montclair Presbyterian Church.
Small groups also can meet indoors, provided masks are worn and social distancing is practiced, as much ventilation as possible is used, and the group’s size does not exceed 25% of the room’s capacity as determined by the fire marshal (the capacity of each room should be posted; if it is not, the church office can provide that information).
Small groups of fully vaccinated individuals can meet indoors without masks, provided everyone in the group agrees to meet without masks.
Also, we have targeted early June for the resumption of in-person celebration. The re-opening task force will be meeting with the Celebration Committee and MPC staff to work out the detains and the exact timing, but that is where things stand for now.
Of course, everything can change, and members of the re-opening taskforce are monitoring the situation. Right now things in California are going really well but in other parts of the United States COVID-19 rates are starting to climb again. We very well may need to adjust our plans accordingly. Please check with the church office before you plan any events on the MPC campus so that you have the most up-to-date information.
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And as you journey though these last days before Easter, I pray you will be filled with heaven-sent blessings and heavenly peace.
God’s Peace,
Ben