Dear Friends,
The Rector here. Below is Archbishop Cutler's weekly letter
to the diocese. Much food for prayer and thought here. I commend it to you.
Blessings,
Fr. Ian+
Office of the Archbishop 1340 Cathedral Lane, Halifax, NS
B3H 2Z1 902 420 0717 - bishopsoffice@nspeidiocese.ca
To: To Clergy and People of the Diocese Date: April 29th,
2020
What has changed, what will change? In the past week, I have
been part of several meetings where the topic of conversation has been: What do
the restrictions used to fight the Covid-19 pandemic mean for the church in the
long term? In the past six weeks, many things have changed and the change has
been rapid and dramatic! Even as provincial education officials and teachers
have had to resort to technology for children in the public school system, so
too, we have started to use the same technologies for worship and for adult and
children’s Christian formation programs. The changes have affected some of the
practices at the core of our identity: the inability to gather physically, the
inability to shake hands or give/receive a hug, the inability to receive
Eucharist, the inability to share meals, the inability to meet physically for
planning/decision making and the much greater challenge; to support those in
our communities who live on very thin margins in the best of times and who are
desperate for food, decent shelter and human contact.
I have gone from the
excitement of figuring out how to use “Zoom” in the first week of shut-down to
the place where I am thinking about the way in which the increased use of such
technologies change our processes. Technology to share worship both opens up
opportunities to connect with those who have not been a part of worshipping
communities and provides an opportunity for those who previously dismissed
worship to cautiously and anonymously check out worship. Some kinds of worship
risks turning the congregation into spectators rather than participants in what
is meant to be “the work of the people”. At the same time, parts of our diocese
are excluded from this possibility because they don’t have access to the
technology and/or don’t know how to use it. A great concern has been the
challenge of funding ministry at every point: congregations, parishes, dioceses
and the General Synod are all wondering how the massive increase in
unemployment, the curtailing of regular sources of funds and decrease in
investments are impacting us now and will continue to do so. Comparatively
speaking, we are still living in a time of abundance but it doesn’t feel that
way. Our Synod Office staff has had to figure out how to provide supports to
the parishes and leaders of the diocese while working from home. This time of
dislocation has meant the rediscovery of “dated technology” like the telephone
and regular postal delivery!
In the first few
weeks of this evolving situation, we were simply reacting, trying to figure out
how to do our thing under new circumstances. No one knew how long we would have
to do this. We were making decisions on a daily basis using the best available
information in that day. We were not thinking of long term consequences and we
were not planning. Now the excitement of the first Zoom meeting has worn off
and we are figuring out new ways we can begin to reflect on what has changed
and what will change. Which of our temporary ways of doing things will last and
which will disappear as soon as we are allowed to go back to the way things
used to be? 2 These are questions that our whole western culture needs to be
asking and there are particular questions that we need to be asking as a part
of the Church. In both Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, there is no
definite time line for a lifting of restrictions. It does seem likely that
there will be a prolonged period of adjustment and that some elements of usual
social interaction are not going to return for a very long time. In the
meantime:
What have we learned?
What has worked?
What has not?
What can we keep?
What do we need to let go?
Who has been left out?
Who has been invited in?
How has our vision of God’s kingdom been impacted?
What will we not go back to doing?
How will even the familiar and comforting rituals and
routines be different in the “after Covid time”.
In January the
Anglican Journal published a story which told about a statistical analysis
indicating that the Anglican Church of Canada would die by 2040. There was lots
of reaction to the speculation of what kinds of changes would need to happen in
the next 20 years for this prophecy not to be fulfilled. In the two months
following the story, we have had to deal with 20 years’ worth of challenges. I
know of some people who have found that the edict to stay home has provided
them with time for self-improvement and reflection. They have actually learned
new things or discovered old and neglected passions. For many, however, it has
meant a huge increase in the work of holding a family, a home and a career together.
For others, this has been an experience in simply trying to survive. All of
these experiences have also been true for congregations. Even as we long for a
return to normal, we need to realize that there is no way we can go back,
without carrying the changes we have experienced in the time of Covid 19 with
us. Is it possible for us to use these experiences in a positive way to equip
us better for God’s mission? There are many places in the bible where the
people are reminded of the faithfulness of God in the past, in order to give
encouragement that God walks with them into the new challenge or opportunity.
It is a teaching well worth remembering in these times.
Blessings,
The Most Reverend Ron
Cutler
Archbishop of Nova
Scotia & Prince Edward Island
