Greetings!
This is longish, but
please read through carefully.
After struggling with this issue in prayer and after consulting our leaders and bishop, I have come to
the difficult decision that we must move our worship service temporarily from face-to-face to an online format. I pray to God you will not see or interpret this as me backtracking from what I have written earlier or speaking out of both sides of my mouth. Nothing is further from the truth.
The
two issues that confront me as your rector are
the critical medical necessity of social distancing on the one hand and the
critical need for us to worship together as
a family on the other. For those who attended worship last Sunday, there was an intense sense of joy and genuine appreciation for the opportunity to worship.
Given the rapidly changing nature of the pandemic, however, I am forced to conclude that the need for doing what we can do to slow this plague down outweighs all other considerations. I make this decision with sorrow and a heavy heart because as I wrote you earlier today,
isolation can have a devastating impact on our parish family and we must not allow that to happen. See that email for suggestions.
My
decision was also aided by the fact that
Bishop Dobbs has encouraged all parishes in the diocese to move to virtual worship services for the time being and that Central College is closing down its face-to-face worship services and moving to a drive-in model they use during the summer months. Both these developments sealed the deal for me.
So
how are we going to worship? What’s that look like? I have purchased a 1 year pro license for Zoom for the parish that allows us to hold an unlimited number of meetings. We will
hold worship online this coming Sunday using Zoom.
If you have not already downloaded and installed the Zoom app for your computer or mobile device, you will need to
click the this link to go to Zoom’s website to get the software
before Sunday.
Mobile device users will need to
visit the respective app stores on their devices to download and install. A link to those stores is contained in the link above.
It’s a freebie so
make sure you have the right app (it’s produced by zoom.us).
Once installed, you simply click or tap the link below in the meeting invitation and enable internet audio on your mobile device.
I would open up the app and get familiar with it before Sunday worship.
I encourage you all to download the app and worship with us Sunday.
We need each other! Feel free to
share the meeting link with family, friends, and neighbors. They don’t have to be geographically close to worship with us!
What to Expect?
We will
use our regular liturgy for Sunday. We’ll have lectors as usual as part of the
Liturgy of the Word and
Deacon Jonathon Wylie will join us from W. VA to read the gospel. I will preach the
sermon and we will
also have Holy Communion. I will explain how that works on Sunday morning.
If you wish to partake in Communion (not required but STRONGLY ENCOURAGED),
you will need to have bread and/or wine on hand.
NO SUBSTITUTES. If you don’t have both, either element will suffice.
You will see the regular slides for worship on your screen along with the faces of everyone in attendance. We will
sing together and
pray together and
worship together. We’re even gonna try to pass the peace! It
will seem awkward and weird at first, based on my past experience with this kind of thing, but I encourage you to
be gracious and give it a fair shot.
We will also do the
Great Litany as we normally do during Lent and we will also
conduct the
second Scrutiny
for our confirmands, so
parents, please have your young people attend as well. You don’t need to stand or kneel unless you wish to do so.
In other words, we are going to do online all the things we would do in the chapel during our regular worship service.
There will doubtless be many things that go wrong. We wouldn’t be St. Augie’s if we got it all right! Just try to be charitable and hold the grumbling to a minimum. On the brighter side, you will get to see my handsome puss for duration, surely a blessing.
Dress as you would like (just don’t show up in your undies or less) and
worship from the comfort of your homes. This is n
ot my first choice, my beloved, but it seems to be the most responsible one available at the moment.
I will decide on a weekly basis if we need to continue with Zoom or can resume face-to-face worship. I will make every effort to resume by Palm Sunday, April 5, but of course my decisions are contingent on what’s happening in our city, state, and country.
Pray for us all.
While we are forced to go online,
we will also be holding weekday morning and evening prayer at 900am (morning prayer) and 600pm (evening prayer) via Zoom. Starting
Monday, March 23,
Deacon Wylie will conduct morning prayer and I will conduct evening prayer (M-F), using Common Worship.
I will send out a link to join in a separate email and I encourage you to participate, preferably with your entire family.
We need all the help and encouragement from the Lord we can muster and daily prayer is a proven and effective way to grow in our faith.
In closing and to summarize,
to worship with us Sunday, click the link below Sunday morning at 10am after you have installed Zoom software on your computer or mobile device. PLEASE support us and family in doing so. Attend daily prayer as often as you can and remember to keep current with your pledges as best you can.
As always,
I welcome your feedback. May God bless, protect, and defend us all, my beloved. I remain yours in Christ.
WORSHIP INFORMATION
Father Kevin Maney is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting (Sunday Worship).
Topic: Sunday Worship
Time: Mar 22, 2020 10:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting (to Worship)
Meeting ID: 652 539 504
Dial in (NOT PREFERRED—we won’t be able to see your smiling face!)
+1 312 626 6799 US
Meeting ID: 652 539 504
JKM++
