Sign of the times: Local church holds Sunday service outdoors

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- For the fifth Sunday in a row, Grace and St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Colorado Springs has held their Sunday service outdoors. The episcopal church began outdoor services on June 28th.

As a sign of the times, the local church, founded in 1923, has made sweeping adjustments to their Sunday service, including holding an outdoor worship, and forgoing hand-shaking, hugging, communion, and coffee hour.

Also, in an effort to keep everyone safe, Grace and St. Stephen's encourages worshippers to make reservations online. The staff tells KRDO they have 75 spaces on their lawn available for reservation that are spaced six feet apart. Within the circles, worshippers are required to wear masks.

Father Jeremiah Williamson says they are happy to have an opportunity for church-goers to each other again. He says, "They can’t touch, they can't hug, they can't do any of that. They’re talking through masks, but I think just seeing people, seeing people they love makes a huge difference."

The Reverend adds, "It’s actually been great. One of the hard things I think for a lot of folks during this pandemic is that they haven’t been able to be together."

In efforts to encourage social distancing, the church worked with the City of Colorado Springs so worshippers could park in their car and tune into a short-range FM Radio station for the service.

For July 26th's service, 95 people joined in morning prayer outdoors. Normally, the episcopal church would see anywhere from 300 - 350 worshippers within the church before COVID-19.

The episcopal church plans to continue outdoor services, at least until the colder months approach.