How to Party in a Pandemic
The terms of reference for the Affirming Ministry Committee laid out some very specific goals that we needed to achieve:
- An inclusive Marriage Policy
- A Vision Statement
- A Yes Vote from the Congregation
- A Party to Celebrate becoming an Officially Recognized Affirming Congregation
Well now here we are trying to plan a party in a pandemic! We started out with the usual list of planning tasks - invitation list, food, decorations, advertising, set up and clean up ...
As we started to go down the lists, we realized that we cannot do this in a fun way that will be safe for all. To eat, we need to take our masks off. Keeping 6 ft apart from anyone with our masks off limits the number of people who can attend. Sending out invitations to everyone we wanted to include starts mixing communities.
What have we learned from this pandemic? We have learned to love our Neighbour as ourselves (wear a mask and get vaccinated), and that we can do things differently. We can adapt for the times.
On Nov 14 during Worship, we will become officially recognized as an Affirming congregation. We would love to have you all there to be a part of the experience. We will be presented with the official Certificate and there may be a short speech. There will be decorations and there will be coffee and conversation after the service. Mostly, we will be in Community, grateful that we have achieved this goal and that we have joined together on this journey.
In the New Year, or whenever it is safe to do so, we will have a big party with music and dancing and food and special guests... The dream list goes on. But for now, we will celebrate the success we have achieved in a modest and safe manner, but still with huge goofy smiles plastered on our faces, under our masks!!