MAY 2022
Dear Friends,
HYBRID WORSHIP BEGINS MAY 8
Thanks to our Production Team!
On Sunday, May 8, we begin Hybrid Worship. This means you can worship via Zoom or phone or you can join us in-person in the sanctuary (vaccinated and masked). We are deeply grateful to the wonderful work that is getting us ready for this huge step in our worship life. Dorene Picker is leading our Production Team. Please contact her if you would like to join the team.
Jud Ramacher, Mike Grayeb, Larrie Sutliff, Marc Caterino, Steve Goe, Kathleen Phelan and others
have put in many hours to build the production booth, set up the cameras and computer
equipment, design our system and train our volunteers. Bob and Claire Collins have spent hours
in rehearsal. Our production team members including those mentioned above as well as Stevie and
Sammy Goe, Alex and Charlie Forth, Helen Picker and Cathy Adlesic have all been receiving
training and preparing to produce our hybrid Sunday worship service. We plan to have teams of two serving once a month. They will be monitoring the camera shots, communicating with the Zoom participants, and linking the Zoom participants with the live congregation via a large monitor at the front of the sanctuary. We are also grateful to all those who have donated generously hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars to purchase the high tech equipment for our new system.
HYBRID WORSHIP AND MASKING
As we begin Hybrid worship I want to remind us that if you choose to worship in the sanctuary we
ask that you be vaccinated and boosted. We will also require everyone to wear masks throughout
worship.
We are aware that many venues do not require masking at this time. However, from the beginning,
our policy has been to do all we can to protect the health and well-being of our congregation and
the community. COVID continues to spread rapidly in New York and Westchester County. New
York has the highest number of daily cases by far−7847 as of this past Wednesday. Daily cases in
Westchester County have more than tripled in the last few weeks to 385. We have had several
cases of COVID at Asbury over the last few weeks. While it is not as lethal as it was a couple
years ago, it still packs quite a punch, keeping people in bed for days with as yet unknown long-
term effects. It is particularly dangerous for members of our congregation who are immunocompromised.
The mental health elements of the pandemic are real. We all want this to be over. In the meantime,
people can choose their acceptable risk levels but at Asbury we are committed to doing what we
can to protect our health. We hope that in the next few weeks the number of daily cases will drop
significantly. Until that time, we are required to wear masks if we choose to worship in the
sanctuary.
Thank you
