by Ariel BenYishay
The spirit of our WUU congregation centers on caring for one another and the world around us. As the national vaccine rollout accelerates, I am feeling some hope. Yet, even as we imagine a not-too-distant future where many of us can safely gather physically, we aren’t there yet. For the time being, we must continue to prioritize the health and safety of our members and our broader community as our congregation’s first priority. Though we must continue to limit physical contact, we are grateful that technological advances permit us to maintain contact, to express love and support for one another, in other ways.
The WUU Board is taking several steps toward that end. First, we have approved guidelines for small outdoor gatherings on our campus. You can find these guidelines here. Please do consult them if you would like to organize a gathering, and feel free to get in touch with Rev. Laura or me if you have questions.
In addition, we are developing a framework for our broader on-campus activities (including Sunday morning services) based on “Levels of Concern” determined by criteria based on metrics of disease prevalence, spread, and other factors. Within each level of concern, our guidelines will identify acceptable degrees of physical gathering, alternative means of carrying out our WUU mission, and required precautions to limit spread of the virus. We are developing these guidelines based on very helpful guidance from the UUA and our Public Health Advisory Task Force. We are currently discussing the details of this framework and hope to approve it at our upcoming April meeting (although given the current metrics, we do not anticipate being able to gather together in person on Sunday mornings for quite a while).
Finally, we continue to work with our renters, including the Church of God and the Friends, to identify the safest ways for them to practice their faith. At this point, the Church of God continue to worship at a larger, alternative venue where they can safely distance until they can safely return to our building. The Friends, who rent Fahs House, continue to meet virtually.
As we navigate these challenging times, we recognize that there is no perfect technological substitute for being able to be and interact in physical presence with one another. Yet, we continue to steer our course knowing that honoring each person’s worth means taking care to protect them from this virus.