Please click HERE to use Eventbrite to Pre-Register to attend the 10 am Sunday Morning In-Person service.

Dear St Mark’s Ocean Park parishioners/supporters:

We are very pleased that we can once again hold an up to 50 people, “In-Person 10 am Sunday Morning Worship Service”. To attend in-person, please pre-register through our Eventbrite page by clicking HERE. See below for more detailed instructions about using Eventbrite.

For those people unable, or not comfortable yet, to attend the in-person service, we will continue streaming our Sunday morning service on our YouTube channel, beginning at 10:00 am. Click HERE to find our Live-Streamed Service.

If all 50 seats available to attend the in-person service are filled, you may watch the service online by clicking HERE.

There are two ways to pre-register to attend our service in-person – 1. Online thru Eventbrite or 2. By phoning the church office.

**1) You may go online to the Eventbrite website and reserve a “ticket”. There is no cost for the tickets – it is just our way of keeping track of the numbers and who will be attending. Registration is first come, first served (if all 50 seats are filled, the Eventbrite service page will say SOLD OUT). To go to Eventbrite to pre-register please click HERE. On the Eventbrite page, choose the service you want to attend and click on it. On the webpage that opens, find and click on the rectangular box with the words “Select A Time”. In the next webpage, click on the “Register” button and follow the instructions.

**2) For those people who can’t use the Eventbrite website to register, we ask that you phone our church office (on or before 11 am on Friday please) and reserve a seat. As it’s first come, first served, please don’t wait too long to phone. The office phone number is 604-535-8841.

As soon as we reach the maximum people who can attend, we will close reservations. If all 50 seats are filled, the Eventbrite service page will say SOLD OUT.

Here are some important points you need to know when you pre-register to attend the In-Person Sunday morning worship service:

• You will need a ticket for each member of your household attending the service.

• You do not need to print or show your ticket(s) from your mobile phone but you need to check-in with the greeter at our church door when you arrive on Sunday morning, so your attendance can be recorded.

• We ask that you try to arrive prior to 9:45 am. Please enter through the Main doors from 20th Avenue, go into the narthex, then follow the arrow signs on the floor to go into the church. We are wheelchair accessible.

• Volunteers will explain which seats are available, to help ensure appropriate social distancing.

• If you do not book a space and decide at the last minute to come, you will be asked to wait outside until a few minutes before the service start time. Remaining unclaimed seats will be offered on a first come first served basis.

• People are required to wear masks. Please remember to bring yours.

• There will be some pre-recorded music, or live instrumental music, as part of the service, but unfortunately no congregation singing yet.

• Everyone in the church will be a minimum of 2 metres apart (except those from the same households). The greeters will manage the queue to enter the church and will monitor for proper social distancing.

• The church will be completely sanitized prior to the service and afterwards.

• Hand sanitizer will be available at many stations throughout the church.

• People will leave the church promptly after the service via the south side doors (near the office area and stairs) to exit outside. (We are not encouraging socializing in the parking lot, however if you choose to do so please do not block the sidewalks or others who wish to social distance.)

• One washroom will be available, for emergencies only, so please use your own washroom just before you come to church.

• Please take your seat as soon as you enter the church, and stay in your seat until the service is over. For everyone’s safety and to ensure appropriate social distancing, walking around the church is not permitted (unless there is an emergency).

Below are Requirements for the Celebration of the Holy Eucharist (we hope to hold our first Eucharist service starting in the third week of July)

• Communion must be in one kind only. Bread should be in the form of wafers only (regular and gluten-free). Only the celebrant will consume wine. The celebrant must be the only communion administrant.

• Immediately prior to the beginning of Eucharistic Prayer the celebrant must sanitize their hands. Prior to the distribution of communion the celebrant must again sanitize their hands, put on a mask, and distribute the bread to those receiving the bread, making sure not to touch the hands of those receiving the bread. Should the celebrant touch the hands of someone receiving the bread, the celebrant must sanitize their hands again before administering the bread to another person.

• Those receiving communion should come forth, one at a time from the centre aisle, being careful to maintain physical distancing between themselves and all others as they come forward. Please remain standing. All coming forward must be masked.

• After receiving a wafer, those receiving communion should return to their seats as directed by directional signage and by the greeters, using the outside aisles, moving to the back of the sanctuary, before coming up the aisle to their seat.
Once back in their seats, they should remove their mask, consume the wafer, and after consuming their wafer, put their mask back on.

• Any who come forth for a blessing must also be masked (unless the person is an infant who cannot be masked). Any blessing that the celebrant gives must not involve touching.

• No anointing with oil is permitted at this time.

• You can find the complete document describing the Requirements for Eucharist sent out from the Archbishop August 10, 2020 by clicking HERE.

• We look forward to seeing those who are able to come to our Sunday morning worship service.

As we mentioned above, if you aren’t able to attend our in-person service, you may continue to watch our service online, through our St Mark Ocean Park YouTube channel by clicking HERE.

Thank you so much for all support and your continuing prayers.  With your prayers, and by God’s continuing grace, we know that we can face any challenge together. God bless you all.