Spiritually Connecting During a Pandemic
Dear Emmanuel family,

As we watched the National Cathedral's Eucharist together on Sunday morning in an empty church, we were struck by the words of Presiding Bishop Michael Curry:

We will fight this particular contagion and all of our preexisting social contagions and divisions by the disciplined labor of love. Love working through medical folk, love working through leaders, love working through each one of us who can help and heal -- maybe in small ways, but add them up and they make a profound difference.

We have been working on how to have our own online worship, and we have two options for you which will begin this week.

Compline (night-time calming prayer) on Wednesday evenings. Fellowship and check-in time begins at 7:30pm and prayer begins at 8:00pm. You can join us in two different ways:
  1. Click https://zoom.us/j/777148332 from your computer or tablet (best choice).
  2. Dial (312)626-6799 from your phone and enter the meeting ID 777 148 332.

Morning Prayer on Sunday mornings . Fellowship and check-in time begins at 9:30am and the service begins at 10:00am. You can join us in three different ways:
  1. Click https://zoom.us/j/671624114 from your computer or tablet (best choice).
  2. Dial (312)626-6799 from your phone and enter the meeting ID 671 624 114.
  3. Watch on Facebook Live via Emmanuel's public page. Fellowship will not be streamed so this will begin at 10am. You will also be about 20 seconds behind live and thus cannot interact with other people.

If you haven't used Zoom before, it's super easy. Laptops work best but you can use your tablet or smartphone. Here is a link to a good tutorial. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=vFhAEoCF7jg&feature=emb_logo

We met with your Wardens last night to discuss ways to stay connected during this time, and here is what we came up with:
  • Vestry members will be assigned to keep in touch with our families. So don't be surprised if a Vestry member calls you to check in and chat.
  • An online prayer list is going to be created so we can pray for each other.

We encourage everyone to continually reach out to one another. We are both available if anyone needs to talk or blow off steam. It's an important time to take care of ourselves physically and spiritually.

Moving forward, the office will be closed to visitors and we ask you not to come to the building. If you need anything you can still call the office; if Judy is working remotely, she will be checking voicemail. We will be moving all our meetings to Zoom. Committee heads can contact either of us for assistance with setting up a Zoom meeting.

During this time let us continue to pray for one another, the nation, and the world.

Blessings,
Ellen+ and Dave+
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