Covid-19 Information and Updates

April 21, 2022

FROM THE RE-ENTRY COMMITTEE

Just this week COVID Act Now changed their methodology for evaluating pandemic metrics, shifting their focus to hospitalization as an indicator of severity of the pandemic rather than case numbers, which have become less reliable as unreported home testing has replaced free testing sites. The website now has only 3 categories (Low, Medium, and High); Essex County currently has a Low rating, although neighboring counties of Middlesex and Suffolk are at Medium. In the past two weeks there have been no ICU COVID patients in Essex County!

If Essex County stays in the low category for two weeks running, we will evaluate shifting some of our COVID protocols. We will give everyone two weeks’ notice before making any big changes, so watch for notices in the newsletter.

We are committed to making decisions based on a culture of care that recognizes the wide diversity of comfort levels and needs among our congregation. With that in mind, we are keeping some now-familiar protocols in place. These practices express our concern for the health and safety for our entire community.

During worship -

• We continue to request that everyone wear a mask at all times while in the building. The exception is for worship leaders while they are speaking or singing.

• To keep social distancing in place, pews with closed doors and signs should not be used.

• To achieve a culture of consent, please check in with folks not in your family group before sitting in the same pew to make sure everyone is comfortable with the arrangement.

• If you arrive with a large group that wants to sit together, ask the greeters for guidance about seating possibilities.

• Congregational singing has been a joyful part of our recent worship, and for now we will continue to raise our voices with masks and social distancing in place.

• Fellowship will be only outdoors for now, and it will be cancelled if the weather does not cooperate.

For meetings in other parts of the church – We recognize that important meetings are taking place, and we are opening other spaces in our building for use. To that end, we have developed some policies for all groups, recognizing the need for consistency and to allow for the health and safety of participants and staff that might be in the building. Organizers of a meeting will be responsible for letting the participants know the conditions before the date.

• We know that it’s easier to communicate without a mask, so while speaking during a meeting, the person talking may remove their mask while others remain masked.

• Seating will be arranged with distancing in mind so that everyone is comfortable. This may mean speaking more loudly, but it will make it more comfortable for more people to participate.

• Air purifiers will be utilized during meetings and when possible, windows will be slightly open.

We all long for the day when we can gather without these protocols, but for now, on this part of our journey together, we will do these things so we may come together in love, caring, and respect for one another.

We say goodbye to Nicole McLaughlin as a member of the Re-Entry committee as she goes on to help with a Stewardship campaign. We are so grateful to her for sharing her wisdom and experience, and we welcome Wolfgang Koch to the committee.

Catherine Bertrand, Holly Chase, Rev. Elizabeth Ide, Wolfgang Koch, Michael Kraft, Lynn Taggart

February 17, 2022

FROM THE RE-ENTRY COMMITTEE
Dear First Church members and friends,

We are relieved and pleased to report that the COVID Act Now risk level in Essex County has been reduced from Very High to the High classification, and bed capacity in area hospitals is increasing. As a result, we will be back together again in our meetinghouse for our Sunday, February 20 worship service. We will continue to follow some safety protocols, although we have relaxed others. We will also live stream the service on Zoom, so if you are away or prefer not to meet in person, you are welcomed into our midst wherever you are.

To keep us all safe, and according to the protocols the committee developed late last year, please be prepared for the following practices:

• Pre-registration will NOT be required. Under current conditions, we will limit capacity to 80, but that is well beyond any typical attendance other than Christmas and Easter services.

• Masks will be required at all times inside the church. We highly recommend N95 or KN95 masks as the safest option, and we will have a supply on hand if you don’t have your own.

• Enter the meetinghouse by whichever door is most convenient for you. Deacons have been asked to generally discourage groups from gathering in the aisles. People have a wide variety of physical and emotional health needs, so please maintain physical distancing. A culture of consent which respects differing comfort levels is an expression of our UU values.

• The metrics do not yet support congregational singing, but music remains an important part of our worship experience. We all look forward to the day when we raise our voices together.

• We’ve all missed the venerable First Church tradition of fellowship after worship. On our way back to whatever will be our new normal, we will share a simple snack and coffee outdoors this coming week, weather permitting.

It takes a village to plan and present a worship service, and you are part of that village. If you can light the chalice, do a reading, or help with some simple set-up items, we need you. Not every week, but once in a while, and it would be a gift to get to know each other better through worship.

See you in church!
Catherine Bertrand, Holly Chase, Rev. Elizabeth Ide, Michael Kraft, Nicole McLaughlin, Veronica Silva, Lynn Taggart

October 28, 2021

FROM THE RE-ENTRY COMMITTEE: Building Bridges
(an adaptation of remarks delivered by Nicole at the Worship Service on October 24, 2021)

There’s a story by Jan Taddeo called The Verrazano Bridge over the Sinepuxent Bay that speaks of the awe of driving up a bridge so steep that you can’t see where it lands. It also speaks of coming to forks on a trail where there’s no clear direction on where to go next, and the willingness to take one to see where it will go, even if it requires some bushwhacking. https://www.uua.org/worship/words/meditation/crossing-bridges Three passages in the story jump out.

Whether we are crossing a bridge from a place of comfort to challenges we never anticipated, or from our own cultural norms to completely new world views, we have resources, friends, and mentors to guide us.

For this amazing journey, we carry in our backpacks a sense of wonder, a sense of humor, and a lot of courage. Our compass is the compassion we hold for all our neighbors.

Our sustenance is the joy of discovering our true selves and experiencing the divine in one another. Our map is the sacred covenant we hold with one another to walk this journey together.

The past 20 months has required the world and First Church to go places we haven’t been before. During that time, and even now, we haven’t known what the distant shore would look like even as we’ve built bridges to it.

Indeed, the first bridge we built in March 2020 was steep, with no distant shoreline in sight. This bridge, moving us from centuries of in-person worship to a wholly online platform, was built virtually overnight by construction novices. That bridge worked well for a time.

The story also refers to forks in trails and taking certain roads as experiments. First Church has done this as well, experimenting with formats and venues to discover what might work for our community and align with our values. None of it has been perfect. But we’ve been building and blazing those trails together, trying to find a way to hold the many physical and emotional needs in our midst.

And the reality is, we have more bridges to build, more trails to blaze, as we move ahead in a world that continues to be defined by COVID transmission, vaccines, boosters, and variants.

Right now, the Re-Entry Committee is trying to construct a flexible bridge --- or a trail map with many forks to choose from. Of course, we don’t want to choose our trails based on the flip of coin (like in the story), but with reference to our values, available evidence, a need for flexibility and realistic expectations of ourselves and others.

Here are some updates on our process and some next steps. We are building as we go.

We are a committee of 6 --- Anthony Silva, Holly Chase, Veronica Silva, Reverend Elizabeth, Catherine Bertrand, Michael Kraft and myself.

Together this fall, between serious illness and loss of loved ones affecting nearly every committee member, we have tried to stay focused and moving forward. It hasn’t always been easy.

Jan Taddeo’s story reminds us that we have mentors, friends, and others to look to. At our last meeting, following the wisdom of Reverend Elizabeth, we worked with Reverend Erica from the UUA to help us visualize our bridge --- or our trail map if that image works better for you --- for a return to worship inside our building. Our intent is to be able to worship inside our building as soon as possible.

Reverend Erica started by asking us about the values guiding each one of us. The list was long, but here are a few of the things committee members surfaced:
Hope Faith Gratitude
Connection
Inclusion
Clarity
Thoughtfulness
Trust --- a big one --- we are being trusted by the community with this decision, and we need to be able to trust one another.

Reverend Erica prompted us with questions about what would need to be true for indoor worship to be right for The First Church Community. Our answers focused on
Local COVID metrics
Ventilation
Safety Protocols
Opportunities for children

She reminded us that the bridge we are building, or the map we’re creating, is not necessarily permanent --- it’s just what we need to get us to our next landing place.

Over a 90 minute session, our next steps came clearly into focus, revealing 3 task areas. To tackle them, we’ve divided ourselves into subgroups.

Anthony and Catherine will focus on the building itself, on things like ventilation and seating and spacing logistics. Elizabeth, Veronica and Catherine will focus on people power --- once the bridge is built, it will require people to help open it for use. The third group, Holly and Nicole, will focus on determining which metrics will guide us and establishing a framework available to everyone that is clear and easy to follow. The framework will recognize that as metrics change in one way or another, the bridge may have to veer to the lea or the right.

Our next meeting is November 4th. We will hear from each subgroup on their ideas and proposals, and determine the next steps from there.

We are excited that so many of you indicated in the July survey that you would be willing to help
--- your community needs you. Almost no decision can be implemented relying only on a small number of individuals. Please remember that the survey was anonymous, and you will need to step forward and identify yourself as someone willing to help us all cross this bridge and walk this trail together.

The last paragraph of the story captures it beautifully:
With so many tools to guide and support us as we approach new bridges, it is not such a leap of faith to trust that we will arrive at the distant shore. Together, we can boldly go where our vision and our faith call us to go.

In covenant, and on behalf of the Re-Entry Committee,
Nicole

October 14, 2021

Your Re-Entry Committee has been meeting regularly as we walk together to find a path toward a return to in-person gatherings at First Church. We continue to base our discussions on UU principles, safety policies at other UU churches, guidance from the UUA and the City of Salem and the growing desire to return to our beautiful Meetinghouse soon. We are discussing the metrics we need to develop and follow to move toward in-person, indoor worship with masks.

Would meeting in the Cleveland Room with access to fresh air make a quicker return possible?

Working with the Property Committee, we are considering the possibility of adding an air purification system or units to the Meetinghouse.

The Re-Entry Committee is working with Rev. Elizabeth on a Sunday Worship Service for October 24th focusing on these issues of safety, accessibility and inclusion. We do want to hear from you.

Anthony Silva, Holly Chase, Nicole McLaughlin - Members of the Re-Entry Committee

September 2, 2021

Your Standing Committee and Re-entry Committee have been meeting to explore and discuss options for our process going forward amid the alarming rise of the COVID-19 Delta variant. We are working together to keep our families and our congregation safe. Our recent outdoor Sunday Services (on blessedly beautiful days with wonderful music!) have been well attended as they offer opportunities to re-emerge and reconnect. We hope to have many more outdoor services in the time to come.

Forty members of First Church responded to the recent membership survey with many folks expressing the desire to attend Sunday worship services and small group discussions. While most people said their desire is to attend services indoors, many felt that outdoor services are the safe way to go. And to the question of whether we should limit the number of folks inside, it was a 50/50 split. But joyously, the great majority of those who responded said they are willing to help make these activities possible. (If that's you, now is a great time to reach out and sign up to volunteer.)

Clearly we are not able to offer ‘ingathering services’ as we have in the past right now, nor in the ways we may have planned a few months ago. But together, we will find ways to celebrate our wider circle of love and care. Please watch this video by UUA President Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray who shares her thoughts on ‘Ingathering” during these challenging times:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSqmSeyhQ-Y

Your church leaders agree that we must prioritize inclusion and safety while following the science and maintaining flexibility in making these important decisions going forward. As UUA President Frederick-Gray says, “May we remember that care, kindness and patience, with ourselves and each other, are needed in abundance now.

-Anthony Silva
On behalf of the Standing Committee & Re-Entry Committee

August Update

Our Re-Entry Committee has been busy developing a concise Congregational Survey to get an idea of what our First Church community would like to see as we walk together toward re-entering our church property this fall. We all want to create a safer space but what is your level of comfort, safety and inclusion? We are listening and we want to hear from you.

In our meeting on July 21, your Standing Committee unanimously approved this 5-question Congregational Survey, which will be available soon to every member of First Church. We strongly encourage you to take the time to fill out the survey and help us plan for our future together! We want to especially thank Veronica Silva for her work assembling, monitoring and calculating the survey.

Also at this meeting, following some spirited discussion, the Standing Committee voted unanimously to ‘aim to have a physical presence by Homecoming Sunday, September 12th.’ Working with volunteers, the Worship Committee and Elizabeth are also aiming to provide an outdoor service in August.

Together, we are moving cautiously while observing state and city mandates and recommendations from the UUA for gathering as COVID-19 subsides. We know that not everyone in our congregation is vaccinated and we must rely on protocols and safety measures to control any possible spread of respiratory droplets, especially in group gathering and singing.

We all have a strong, emotional desire to reconnect again in our most sacred spaces but we have agreed that safety, inclusion, and our deeply held shared values must be at the center of all of our decisions.

In other business, work has begun in Willson Hall and the downstairs hallways installing new vinyl plank and tile flooring. Sealing and leveling material has been applied. Jamie Tanch reported that old items, some dating back to the 1960’s, have been removed and disposed of in the basement in preparation for the new floor. Billy McCarthy is continuing to paint areas of the church and make other improvements.

John Pydynkowski and I moved some bookcases in the Meetinghouse in preparation for the installation of new state-of-the-art sound and assisted listening systems. The project is estimated to be coming in slightly under budget! It is expected that these projects will be completed and operational by mid to late August.

These continue to be unprecedented times with challenges we have never faced before but together, we can lean into our UU values with care, understanding and compassion.

Anthony Silva
Chair
Standing Committee

Survey Link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/CCNRK99

July 16, 2021

The Standing Committee has been meeting this summer as we discuss the re-opening of our church this fall, the future of religious education and faith development and ongoing renovations.

You’ll be happy to know that Willson Hall has been cleared and is now undergoing preliminary work to prepare for our new vinyl, waterproof, anti microbial Red Oak plank flooring. Jamie and the Property Committee has been overseeing the preparations and Billy McCarthy has been especially busy painting, clearing out debris and organizing storage areas.

As I write this message, the Pelletier Carpet crew is set to begin leveling and sealing the floors in Wilson Hall and in the hallways to prepare for the new flooring, which should be installed within a few weeks.

Our Re-Entry Committee has met and Veronica is preparing a questionnaire that will go out to the membership to assess your feelings and thoughts about coming back into the Meetinghouse.

These are still challenging times with young people still unvaccinated, some folks still feeling uncomfortable about going into closed spaces and COVID-19 infection rates again spiking in parts of the country, not to mention continuing vaccination resistance by some. We’re doing the best we can and we ask for your understanding and patience as we carefully and mindfully walk on this path together in the weeks and months ahead.

Anthony Silva, Chair

Standing Committee

June 23, 2021

We are so pleased to announce that Brenda Marean and Marlene Warner will become the new Co-Treasurers of First Church following an unanimous vote by the Standing Committee. Under Article V, Section 3 of the By Laws, “Any vacancy in the office of the Treasurer, however created, shall be promptly filled…by the Standing Committee.” We congratulate and deeply thank both Brenda and Marlene for accepting this important position!

The Standing Committee spent the majority of the meeting discussing the future of religious education and faith development at First Church with UU Congregational Consultant Erica Baron who joined us from Vermont. She led us on a review of our RE programs, challenges, budget, future possibilities and best practices. The entire Standing Committee took part in this engaging and invigorating discussion as we move toward a search for our future director.

I also offered an update on the work underway in Willson Hall where Billy, Jamie and crew are leading a clean-out and reorganization of items in preparation for the floor restoration work which will begin in a few weeks. Committees with materials stored in Wilson Hall should reach out to Jamie of the Property Committee for further information. Observers from PEM were on hand when a museum-lent display case was moved. Many very old items including wooden chair racks, heavy metal tables, old props, books, furniture and other items are being moved and/or disposed of in this process.

Design and financing preparations are continuing as we the plan future carpet, pew and upholstery upgrades in the Meeting House. Currently, some small portions of the floor as well as bookcases are being prepared for installation of an improved sound and assisted listening systems.

The Re-Entry Committee is working on a Congregational Questionnaire to go out soon as well as updates guidelines to re-enter the building soon, providing health assessments continue to improve