Dear Friends,
(Part 2 to come on Thursday)
I am sending this note hoping that everyone is enjoying the
new openness we are able to experience due to the broad diligence we all
undertook, beginning in March, to curb the spread of COVID-19. Every day, we
have been praying for health-care workers (of every kind), first responders,
and essential workers, that they would be kept safe. We have also been praying
for all who have been feeling anxiety, particularly as a result of this
pandemic. I will admit that, I have been numbering myself among those who have
been having this experience at this nearly unprecedented time.
But we have indeed come together as a parish community, and
made shared sacrifices - most notably in adhering to Public Health and Archbishop's
directives in refraining from gathering for worship. Aside from serious
pastoral crisis which I have had to respond to as a pastor, this has been, by
far, the most difficult time I have experienced in my 21+ years in parish
ministry. A large part of that has been the inability of our community to come
together in worship - which is a key aspect of our life as Christian people,
that we have had to refrain from. As grateful as I have been for the wonders of
modern technology, which have enabled us to continue to live-stream services
and electronically distribute bulletins, gathering in the Spirit has not been
the same as doing so in body as well.
As such, I am greatly anticipating our coming together again
for worship, starting on the 9th of August. You may wonder why so late, as
Public Health decreed that indoor, physically distanced, gatherings could begin
on June 26th, and the Archbishop has given the "green light" to
proceed accordingly. At the same time, Archbishop Cutler's refrain has been that
"just because we can, does not mean we must", and he has encouraged
the parishes of his diocese to use discretion and caution in reopening, and to
do so only if it can be done reasonably safely. We have also been required to
come up with a written plan as to how we will do so, to keep in line with
Public Health directives and best practices. Parish Council has approved of
such a document, which will be published later this week.
However, a couple of main things from it, which I want to
highlight. Firstly, due to to a variety of factors, mainly around cleaning
requirements, and the directive we have been given to continue live-streaming
worship for those who judge for themselves that it is not safe to come out, at
St. Stephen's, we will be gathering in Tuck Hall, not the church building
itself, for our worship. Wearing masks will be required, information on
attendance will be taken, for the purpose of contact tracing should an attendee
contract COVID-19, and of course seating will be limited due to physical
distancing requirements. Most services will be Services of the Word, and not
Holy Eucharist, and will be "said" without hymns.
Because of the requirements to clean after each indoor
event, holding two services on a Sunday in any of our buildings is impractical.
As such, our service schedule will be as follows, starting the 9th of August:
9 a.m. St. George's, East River/All Saints, Canaan (on the
1st Sunday of the month only)
10:30 a.m. (NOT 11 a.m.) St. Stephen's, Chester
7 p.m./4:30 p.m. (winter months), All Saints, Canaan (3rd
Sunday of the month, only)
Some of us may wonder why, if we have the "green
light" for indoor gatherings, and we have a plan for making them happen,
why we are waiting until the 9th of August. This is entirely because I am
taking my vacation, beginning on Monday, the 6th of July, and returning to the
office on Tuesday the 4th of August. I have little doubt that, when we start
gathering, we will discover adjustments which will have to be made, to say
nothing of the considerable effort it will undertake to figure out the
"nuts and bolts" of putting our basic plan in place. If we had begun
physical gathering once more for worship on the 26th of June, we would have had
two Sundays of doing so before I went "off-duty" for a month. It
would not be right to impose a fair bit of the working out of that plan on
either the Honourary Assistant or Licenced Lay Ministers for the ensuing
four weeks. Hence, our starting on the 9th of August. I will be away again for
the last Sunday in August, but that will only be one Sunday, and we can figure
that out closer to the date.
I should add that, if, during my vacation, you or your
family experience an emergency requiring a priest (The Lord forbid!), please
contact either the Parish Office or the Parish Wardens, who will connect you to
the clergy "on-call".
Part 2 of this communication about worship will be published
on Thursday, and will mainly be the detailed "re-gathering"
plan.
In regards to the Sundays when I will be on vacation
(starting Monday, 6 July), we will not be live-streaming worship, either Sunday
Morning Prayer or Midday Prayer through the week. However, each week we will be
sending out service bulletins via email containing the entire text of Book of Common
Prayer Morning Prayer, the readings for the day, as well as commentary on them.
This can be used by any parishioners for worship at home, and can be printed
and distributed to friends and family members who do not have email or internet
access.
However, for those who will wish to take part in a
live-streamed or recorded worship service during my absence, a number of
our sister parishes, both in this region and in the diocese, are broadcasting
worship through the internet. Here are the links to just some of them:
St. John's, Lunenburg:
St. James, Mahone Bay:
Holy Trinity, Bridgewater:
Christ Church, Shelburne:
The Cathedral Church of All Saints, Halifax:
Links to other parishes conducting online worship may
be found here, on our Diocesan website:
Until the 6th of July, Midday Prayer will be live-streamed
today (30 June) at 12 noon, and at the same time on July 2 & 3. Morning
Prayer will be live-streamed this Sunday (5 July) at 11 a.m.
Blessings,
Fr. Ian+
(Archdeacon Ian Wissler, Rector)
Kevin C.
Koloff
St. Stephen's Anglican Parish
Parish Administrator
902.275.3804 (office)
St. Stephen's Anglican Parish
Parish Administrator
902.275.3804 (office)
902.497.7500
(mobile)
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