Dear People’s people,

During our service on September 20, we participated in a litany of welcome that listed ways we work to welcome folks in our community. It contains enough valuable information that I thought it would be worth repeating. Remember, all of who you are is welcome at People’s Church.

We welcome people of all hearing abilities. We have both Hearing Loop and Auracast hearing systems in the Commons, which transmits sound directly to hearing aids. If your hearing aids are enabled for Auracast, we have a QR code in the back of the Commons, which can instruct your phone to connect your hearing aids to our system. If you are with us on Zoom, you can enable closed captioning. It will do its best to transcribe what we say during the service.

We welcome people who read braille. If you read braille, know that we have a braille hymnal that includes many of the songs we sing during our services. It is located by the desk near the top of the stairs. Please ask Eli, our church administrator, to pull out the hymn pages for today’s service.

We welcome people of all physical abilities. If stairs are a barrier for you, know that you still have two ways to enter the building. We have an elevator by our front entrance. We also have a back entrance that is on the same level as most of our meeting spaces, simply follow the driveway around toward the east side of the building and you’ll find it.

We welcome young children and their families. Children are always welcome in our services and we have a nursery staffed by trained caregivers on the east side of our building, simply follow the hallways around and listen for the sounds of mostly joyful children. We have a changing table in that space as well as in both of the single stall bathrooms near the top of the stairs. We have booster seats on the high shelf over our kitchen sink.

We welcome people of all gender identities. One of the tangible ways we do this is we ask everyone to include their pronouns on their nametags and we work to use everyone’s correct pronouns. We do not have any gendered restrooms in this building. Everyone is welcome to use any bathroom in the building.

We welcome people who can best participate when their bodies are busy. You are always welcome to bring a quiet craft or activity with you. We also have baskets of fidgets, coloring pages, and tables covered with paper. These are for people of all ages. If you engage best while standing or pacing, you are welcome to do that, near the back of the sanctuary or along the side walls.

And, because we are a living tradition, I have added more to our litany as I reflected on what Rowan shared in the service and what a People’s person mentioned to me during coffee hour.

We welcome people who have chemical and scent sensitivities. We do this by asking one another to limit our use of perfumes, essential oils, and other strongly scented products before we gather with others in-person.

We welcome people who don’t remember names well. One of the ways we do this is by wearing a nametag when we gather in person or making our Zoom name match our name when we gather online. If you forgot or lost your nametag, we always have stick-on nametags by the front door of the church building and at the desk near the top of the stairs. You can ask for a more permanent nametag – new or replacement – by filling out the form at the desk by the front door or talking to Eli, our church administrator.

Do you have other practices to add to our litany of welcome? Please send them my way. Hospitality is a skill that requires lots of practice.

Remember, all of who you are is welcome here.

Take good care,

Rachel