Worship Guidelines
Below you'll find the most recent guidelines for public worship in the Diocese of East Carolina during the COVID-19 pandemic:
New Guidelines for Worship - September 29, 2021
To the people of the Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina:
Greetings to you, and peace in the name of our risen Lord Jesus!
More than eighteen months have passed since the onset of COVID-19 and the suspension of public worship in the Diocese of East Carolina. Sixteen months have passed since we first published guidelines for a return to public worship in our diocese, guidelin…
Read More »New Guidelines for Worship - May 26, 2021
To the people of the Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina:
Dear friends in Christ,
A little more than one year ago I wrote to you to lay out plans for a return to public worship in the congregations of this Diocese. With those plans, we built a framework for public worship that we have continued to follow in the months since, easing restrictions as we have been able to do so. Tod…
Read More »Updated Guidelines for Public Worship - April 29th, 2021
Although it came a day later than we may have expected, North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper has issued an Executive Order this week that impacts our gatherings for worship. Executive Order No. 209 goes into effect tomorrow, April 30th at 5:00pm and will continue in force through June 1, 2021 at 5:00pm, unless we hear otherwise before then. As a result of this order, I want to affirm the following:
Read More »Impact of CDC Recommendations on Guidelines for Public Worship - May 14, 2021
As the Episcopal branch of the Jesus movement in eastern North Carolina, we need to make decisions about our common life that are properly respectful of all of our members and which properly support the health and well-being of the communities in which we live and serve. Not all of us are old enough to be vaccinated, not all of us can be safely vaccinated, and not all of us have chosen to be vaccinated. Will our congregations be places that welcome all people, or only some?
Read More »Updated Guidelines for Public Worship - March 24, 2021
Friends and Colleagues,
Just in time for our celebrations of Holy Week and Easter, we find ourselves in the situation of being able to consider the possibility of gathering for indoor worship in greater numbers than have been possible during the past year.
Preparing & Planning for a Return to Public Worship - May 13, 2020
In his April 29th “Word to the Church: What Would Love Do?” Presiding Bishop Michael Curry offered us the image of a “rubric of love.” Drawing on our Anglican/Episcopal use of rubrics (small, italicized print, once in red) for shaping how a Book of Common Prayer liturgy should be planned and conducted, Bishop Curry speaks of the sort of love that ought to shape our lives as disciples of Jesus.
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