Dear parishioners,
Now that Holy Week and Easter are getting close, I want to let everyone know where we stand in terms of worship.
1) It turns out that it is not safe or feasible for us to have any kind of a “parking lot” service. Even St. Thomas, which has a much larger parking lot and initially planned such a service, has had to cancel its plans. Likewise, the Bishop has banned so-called “drive through” Eucharists as unsafe.
2) The diocese has been working very hard to produce online services for all of us to share during Holy Week and Easter. St. Edward’s will use those services for Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday.
3) Our Easter plans are not yet decided, other than that Easter must be online. The diocesan service is available to us, but we also know you would like to have something coming from St. Edward’s itself. Perhaps we can do a blend of the two. Even recording singing at this point is very difficult because singers would have to stand at least six feet apart and no more than ten people should be in one place at one time! As soon as we finalize our Easter plans we will let you know.
4) In the weeks after Easter, St. Edward’s will be working to generate some sort of home-grown online services. Father Rick will be on board by then, and he has quite a bit of technical experience in sound, recording and editing. We will have to be patient as the technical capabilities of St. Edward’s are less than that of larger churches and we will have a lot of trial and error. But we have already arranged to beef up our internet service at the church in anticipation of making these broadcasts.
5) If the circumstances of the pandemic ease enough to permit us to gather in church by May 31st, the Bishop is contemplating that we may be able to have some sort of combined Easter/Pentecost event on Pentecost.
David +
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A personal message from fellow parishioner and vestry member, Ellen Milligan, to our St. Edward’s Community:
Some time ago Amy Swiernik gave me a bag full of embroidery floss. The floss had belonged to her mother. Amy knew that I cross stitch and thought I might be able to use it. I confess that I stuck the bag in a drawer and forgot about it. Fast forward to the Covid-19 crisis. With so much time to fill, I decided to work on an Easter cross stitch. I found a pattern online and then realized that I had no way to purchase floss. Then I remembered Amy’s gift. Now I am happily stitching and the kids are making friendship bracelets. Seeing all of the various, beautiful colors of floss makes me smile. Even though I never knew Amy’s mother I can tell from all the bright, cheerful colors that she enjoyed creating pieces. So, you just never know how a kind gesture may come around to help.
Ellen Milligan
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From the Praise Band:
Hymn number 679 is based on the text of Isaiah 12, and the words of praise have resonated with me and become a source of encouragement during these challenging times. I love the musical setting as well. It is a fairly recent composition called Thomas Merton by Ray Urwin, who wrote it while music director of an Episcopal Church in Wilmington, DE, and is now serving a church in Southern California. I enjoyed it when Patrick choose it for some of our 10:15 services, and I intended to use it in our contemporary services this spring, which now have been cancelled. I found a version on Facebook, so take a listen. The singer is a bit unpolished, but very enthusiastic:
https://www.facebook.com/randy.westgate.9/videos/10212979741766640/
Blessings today,
Randy Westgate
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St. Edward’s Bible Study Update:
This past Wednesday evening we were able to hold our Bible Study over Zoom, and after a few bumps we were able to get it working satisfactorily. With that success, we would like to ensure that anyone who might be thinking about joining the group has the opportunity to do so. Would you please add this information to your daily publication to the church members, letting people know that if they would like to join us, we will continue to meet each Wednesday evening at 6:30. They will need to contact Bill ([email protected]) or Yvonne ([email protected]) and we will send instructions to join us on Zoom. Each week we will send the I.D. number for that week’s session to those who indicate their interest in joining the meeting.
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Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s Word to the Church: On Our Theology of Worship: A word to the Church regarding the theology of worship during the COVID-19 pandemic from the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church
March 31, 2020
John Donne, Priest, 1631
Dear Friends in Christ Jesus,
We find ourselves in the strange position of fasting from physical gathering for worship of almighty God, not out of sloth or disobedience, but in obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, for whom the primacy of love for God and neighbor is the way of life. In the context of the coronavirus pandemic, refraining from physically gathering together to hear God’s holy word and receiving the sacrament of holy communion is itself an act of love for God and our neighbor.
As one of our spiritual ancestors once cried, “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” (Psalm 137). How shall we sing the Lord’s song in this alien and strange land of COVID-19? How shall we conduct the public worship of Almighty God? How shall we provide pastoral ministrations to people who are sick, dying, and any in need? How shall we baptize? Ordain? How? I thank God for the bishops, priests, deacons, and the whole people of God who have been faithfully seeking ways to sing the Lord’s song in ways that truly worship God and simultaneously help to heal and protect human life.
It is my conviction that the Anglican way of following Jesus has deep within it a way and habit of worship and liturgy that is of significant help to us in this moment. It may well be that the breadth and depth of the Anglican way of common prayer can come to our aid now, when for the sake of others, we abstain from physical, public gathering to hear God’s Word and to receive the Sacrament.
With this in mind I convened a group to help me compose a theological reflection on how this Anglican way gives guidance in this moment. I hope this will be a framework, a theological context, or a signpost pointing in the direction of some of the wisdom of the Anglican way of common prayer. This is not in any sense a set of guidelines, directives, or mandates. I commend this work to you.
O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be thou our guide while life shall last,
And our eternal home.
God love you. God bless you.
Keep the faith,
+Michael
The Most Reverend Michael B. Curry
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church
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LENTEN MEDITATION – TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2020
Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, “Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.”
– Deuteronomy 15:11
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I think I freaked out my daughter’s preschool teacher at our last conference. As we discussed goals, I wasn’t concerned about my child meeting some academic milestone, how well she knew her ABCs or whether she was becoming a better reader. I told her teacher that what I was hoping for my children was an invitation to develop their emotional intelligence. When we drop off in the mornings, we always look around to see whether someone needs a friend—and in preschool, there’s always somebody who’s having a hard morning! Some of my proudest parental moments have been when my daughter notices a friend in need before I say a word.
As adults, we sometimes harden ourselves to need by labeling it as systemic and therefore out of our control. We allow the generality to distance us, but Moses’ invitation is personal: It’s not “fight the system” but rather “open your hand.” It’s an invitation to enter into preschool and notice who needs a friend.
– Patrick Funston is a husband, father of two young children and rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Manhattan, Kansas.