FR. DAVID’S BLOG — What does Governor Carney’s shelter-in-place order mean for SsAM? We are offering on-line Eucharist this coming Sunday, March 29, at 10:00 a.m. and Morning Prayer every day at 7:00 a.m., Mondays through Sundays! Adult studies are continuing!
Virtual Worship: Sunday Services, Morning Prayer
Virtual Worship this Sunday, March 29, at 10:00 a.m. Thanks to everyone who joined us on Sunday, March 22, for our celebration of the Eucharist on Facebook Live. As of today 629 people have viewed the liturgy according to what I see on the SsAM Facebook page. Thank you to everyone who tuned in and for your comments. Though we are sheltered in place, Bishop Brown is encouraging us to still offer Sunday worship under the CDC guidelines with no more than ten people in attendance.
My hope is that we will continue to offer online worship while considering the health and safety of folks who are physically present for worship. We will communicate with you what we plan to do through Facebook Live; especially with upcoming Palm/Passion Sunday, Holy Week liturgies and Easter Sunday. It is my plan that, when we are able to come back together as a community, our first Sunday back in church will be the Celebration of EASTER! Even on May 17th if that is when we return.
We celebrate Morning Prayer every morning at 7:00 a.m. on Facebook Live, Monday through Sunday.
Click here to visit the SsAM Facebook page.
The photo above is a video screenshot of our virtual worship of Sunday, March 22.
Message From Bishop Kevin Brown to Clergy
Wednesday, March 23, 2020
Hello colleagues,
The governor has identified religious organizations as ‘essential’, exempting us from the shelter-in-place requirement for work that cannot be done through telecommunications or other remote means. We must continue to adhere to all CDC guidelines that are in force, including the 10-person limit, for worship and for our offices. There is a basic expectation that organizations will use remote technologies as much as possible, for worship and office support. We will talk more about this tomorrow, and I will update the diocese on Wednesday.
Speaking of worship, we are permitted to continue Sunday worship under the same restrictions we currently have in place. I will formally extend our suspension of public worship to May 15 to align with the state of emergency date. We will coordinate our various Holy Week and Easter services tomorrow as well. I do not plan to offer Palm Sunday or Triduum services from St. Albans Center but rather to encourage the parishes to worship with a nearby parish that is streaming. As always, I welcome your input. We are wiser together.
There is much more to cover on tomorrow’s call as well. I look forward to being with you.
+KB
SsAM Staff and Friendship House
Please be assured that the staff at SsAM is well. We are working remotely and coming into the office as little as we can. The office is closed to all but we are receiving mail and packages from UPS and Amazon (they need to ring the bell to alert us they have a delivery). The Friendship House Empowerment Center is also closed, however they are offering daily coffee and donuts on a grab-to-go basis. This happens from 7:30 to 9:00 each morning.
Adult Studies On-Line
Last week I sent out Zoom invitations to all the folks who are either participating in the Saturday Adult study, the Saturday Youth Confirmation study, and the Tuesday Lenten Book Study. In the next week I will let you know about other opportunities for us to gather virtually. Ideas that I am pondering are the following:
- A weekly check-in with the Rector.
- A weekly Bible Study or Lectio Divina group.
If you are interested in either of these offerings please contact us and then I will send out the zoom invitation and the time we would meet.
Let’s Stay Connected!
Staying Connected with one another: I miss all of you and I will be reaching out to you by email or phone to check in to see how you are doing. This has begun as the different ministries are checking in with one another and it is a wonderful thing. Every morning during Morning Prayer I am praying for each member of the parish one page at a time. By all means if you would like to call me to check in please do so. It will great to hear your voice.
In the words of the great Christian mystic Julian of Norwich: “All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.
Peace and stay safe,
Fr. David
