There’s nothing quite like the sound of a city waking up in the spring: the birds, the garbage trucks, the construction noise beginning; a cacophony of humanity and nature that’s comforting to me as a city-dweller. It just screams “spring morning!”

And it reminds me that we’re beginning to come out of hibernation now, in many different ways, as individuals and as a society. We had happy news from the CDC this week that vaccinated grandparents can visit their kids and grandkids safely. Younger students have had the opportunity to return to at least hybrid education in schools. More and more of us have access to the vaccine. We’re beginning to make progress. The end is finally in sight.

I had a funny experience last week: immediately after I sent out our newsletter with a similar message about the end being in sight and the need to remain cautious while we waited for further guidance from the bishops, I received a message from our bishops with updated guidelines!

The bishops are targeting April 19 as the date to begin loosening restrictions on worship. (That’s a Monday, so Sunday, April 25.) At present, the bishops are strongly discouraging indoor, in-person worship; churches that are worshiping indoors have a capacity limit of 25. Beginning April 19, the bishops suggest that we can begin indoor, in-person worship again, and they are loosening the capacity limits pretty significantly, to a maximum of 75 people or 1/3 capacity or 6-foot distance between households, whichever is the lowest number and therefore the safest.

In our case, that would mean access to about 20 pews in our sanctuary, allowing indoor worship for a congregation that is, honestly, about our usual size. (Note that all other safety precautions will remain in place: universal masking, distancing, communion with bread only, no congregational singing, etc.)

We have not made any decisions. This is not an official announcement that on April 25, everyone can or should come back to worship indoors. The Vestry and our Reopening Advisory Committee and I will continue having conversations, but I wanted to share this news with you from the bishops about the future.

By that point, most vulnerable adults will have had the opportunity to receive the vaccine, but not all adults will have access, and children will not until later this year. We will, of course, continue online access to worship for the indefinite future, even when more people are returning to the Sanctuary.

We’ll also begin our outdoor garden services a little earlier than usual this year; rather than waiting until the summer, we’ll begin at some point this spring.

You’ll notice that April 25 is three weeks after Easter (April 4), so we won’t have a triumphant return for Easter Sunday this year, but we’ll still have our outdoor and online worship as planned.

I hope this gives some sense of a light at the end of the tunnel. I know that all of us are in different places right now; some are thrilled at this news, and some are cautious. Wherever you are, know that you are still a beloved member of this community, and we will not shut you out. Even as more of us return to the sanctuary, our online options will continue, and this new outdoor option may be another one you’d like to take up—even just to hear the birds on a Sunday morning!

So take care, and I hope you continue to have a holy and blessed Lent as we prepare for Holy Week and Easter, as the days lengthen, the sun returns, and we move toward a brighter and better future later this spring and summer.

Greg