From the Rector: the Flu and COVID-19
Dear Friends,
Churches bring together people from all walks of life. This is a blessing, but it means churches face unique challenges. At St. Mark's each week there are those who are physically healthy and at a low-risk for infection, and there are those who are medically-fragile and need higher levels of protection. Over the last few weeks, as flu season reaches its peak and as news of COVID-19/Coronavirus continue to spread, I have been receiving questions about whether we will change anything about the way we conduct our liturgies and our life together. The short answer is, Yes.
Though COVID-19 is a new virus, dealing with contagion in our churches is not new. Each flu season, we face the challenging balance of bringing people together in community while not exacerbating the spread of a disease that can be merely inconvenient for some but dangerous for others. The steps we take during flu season can form the basic framework for our approach to COVID-19.
Episcopal Relief and Development offers
reliable information about the symptoms of COVID-19, how it spreads, and what you can do to prevent it (
click here)
.
Bishop Lee has cited these guidelines from Episcopal Relief and Development and has offered the following
guidance to congregations
. The bishop writes to church leaders:
- It is entirely appropriate to use hand sanitizer visibly when celebrating the Eucharist or distributing the elements.
- Congregations should avoid intinction (the dipping of the host or bread into the chalice).
- Some research suggests that illness is less likely to spread when metal, rather than ceramic, chalices are used.
- If worshippers are concerned or are feeling unwell, they can be reminded that we receive the fullness of communion by receiving only the bread.
- Hugging and handshaking are best avoided at the moment. Instead, worshipers can greet one another during the peace with waves, bows, or other signs that don't involve physical contact.
- People who are ill can be encouraged to stay home and assured they will be included in the congregation's prayers.
- Coffee hour and feeding program volunteers can be reminded to wash their hands and handle food with plastic gloves or utensils.
Bishop Lee's recommendations will be applied at St. Mark's.
- Hand sanitizer will continue to be used
- Intinction (dipping the bread into the chalice) will no longer be an option; if you do not want to drink from the cup know that communion is received in full by the bread alone.
- We will suspend our use of grape juice but remember that communion is received in full by the bread alone.
- Please avoid shaking hands at the Peace and instead wave, bow, or offer a peace sign. Our earlier practice of bumping elbows will be suspended as the COVID-19 virus can live on surfaces for up to two weeks.
- Coffee hour hosts should wash their hands regularly and use the dishwasher/sanitizer for cleaning dishes.
- Stay home if you are sick, and we commit to pray for you.
These basic steps ensure that we are providing a safe environment for all our parishioners during the remainder of flu season and during the uncertainty in the early days of COVID-19.
Importantly Episcopal Relief and Development also calls us to remember who we are at times like this, reminding us that our role as Christians is to:
- Combat fear with knowledge in order to encourage preparedness and decrease stigma.
- Maintain operational continuity and continue worship life in the case of potential quarantine and disruption.
- Show God's compassion and care to those in our communities who are affected.
We have an opportunity to respond to this epidemic, as we do with the flu every year, with careful preparation, not panic. We do not yet know what shape this disease will take in the next few months, but I will be in close contact with the diocese, and we will adjust our plans according to their recommendations. As always, though, we must remember those on the margins of our society and those who are at higher risk of major repercussions from COVID-19 and influenza.
We can be signs of God's loving presence through measured, calm response to crisis, and we can be nonanxious, unafraid stewards of the Gospel in anxious and troubling times.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor Debra+
Sanctify, O Lord, those whom you have called to the study
and practice of the arts of healing, and to the prevention of
disease and pain. Strengthen them by your life-giving Spirit,
that by their ministries the health of the community may be
promoted and your creation glorified; through Jesus Christ
our Lord.
Amen.
A prayer for Doctors and Nurses
Book of Common Prayer,
p. 406
