Volume 5, Issue 20
May 22, 2020
THIS SUNDAY: May 24, 2020
Seventh Sunday of Easter
Lectionary Scripture Readings



ALL ON-SITE CHURCH SERVICES CANCELLED

8:15 - 9:00AM
Online Morning Prayer Service Music*

9:00AM
Online Morning Prayer Service*

*Available on the All Saints' website and Facebook page, and via phone, see information below
UPCOMING EVENTS
TENTATIVE REOPENING
ON-SITE CHURCH SERVICES
June 7 th
8:00AM and 9:30AM
Sanctuary and/or lawn

RECURRING EVENTS
ALL RECURRING EVENTS SUSPENDED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
Sunday School
Every Sunday, 9:30 - 10:15AM
Memorial Hall

Aloha Hour
Every Sunday, 10:45AM - 12:00PM
Under the big tree

Monday Crew
Every Monday, 8:00AM
Church Office

Laundry Love
1 st & 3 rd Wednesday, 5:00PM
Kapa`a Laundromat
McMaster Slack Key Guitar and Ukulele Concert
Every Wednesday, 6:00PM
Church

Daughters of the King
2 nd & 4 th Thursday, 7:00 - 8:00PM
Memorial Hall

Choir Practice
Every Thursday, 6:00PM
Choir Room
All Saints' Response to COVID-19
ACCESSING SUNDAY SERVICES
Kahu Kawika and Fr. Andrew from St. Michael and All Angel's Church in Lihue invite you to join our on-line Morning Prayer service presented each Sunday during the coronavirus pandemic.

The service will be available for viewing on our website,  www.allsaintskauai.org  and the All Saints' Facebook page each Sunday morning. 

Congregants will also have the option to listen to the recording by calling the church office, (808) 822-4267, and following the prompts provided through our new auto attendant feature.
All Saints' Works Toward Reopening

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times...."
Aloha ke Akua,

Certainly Charles Dickens' words from  A Tale of Two Cities  strike home for me in this moment of our living on Kaua`i: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair."

By living on Kaua`i, we have been blessed with no new cases of COVID-19 for nearly a month and a half - which is more than most of our country and world can say. However, the economic toll on our small island has had an enormous negative impact that will take quite a while from which to recover. Paramount with all this is how we as an island and as a church can ready ourselves for the day when tourism will open up again.

This touches upon why I am writing you, namely, how we as a worshiping community and `Ohana can transition to returning to in-person worship together. As many of you know, this past Tuesday the Mayor sent a request to the Governor that all medium-risk businesses and gatherings be allowed to re-open, which includes churches and houses of worship. There would be no limit as to the number of people who could gather, so long as social distancing takes place. As of an hour ago (from the writing of this piece) the Governor gave his approval to the Mayor's request. Thus, this allowance is still only for the island of Kaua`i and is not yet statewide.

The Wardens, the Vestry, and I have started to discuss the best way forward. We will give a final determination at our upcoming Vestry meeting this Tuesday evening. For now, though, we are tentatively considering returning to on-site gathered worship on Sunday June 7 th . We still have a lot of details to work through so that we can accommodate us within the scope of the safe practices mandated by government officials and the CDC. We would like to open up the sanctuary, the only question being whether we do a combination of sitting for worship inside as well as by the Lihue-side lanai under the big tent, or to keep it all outside with either chairs set up on the lawn or folks bringing their own beach or lawn chairs. We are also making provisions to celebrate Holy Communion, but for the first couple of Sundays we may need to continue with Morning Prayer until we can make all things safe and ready for the Eucharist.

I know that many of us are keen to return to being able to see each other, to socialize more together, and to celebrate Holy Communion together. We also want to situate ourselves so that we are practicing the necessary safety precautions -- not so much due to any danger at the present moment, but so that we are prepared when tourism gets going in earnest once again. Mostly, though, any safe practices that we do are not out of a motivation of fear, but out of an abundance of aloha and concern for those most vulnerable in our midst.

Please keep prayerful, watchful, and careful. Please also know that Muriel and I pray each day for you and for our life together as Ka `Ohana o ke Akua  (God's family).

Maluhia i Kristo,
Kahu Kawika+
Reflection from Kahu Kawika
Taking Our Place as God's Grown-Up Kids
Ka’u `Ohana i ke Akua,

(Jesus told his friends,) “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you; then you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth.” Having said this, Jesus was lifted up in a cloud before their eyes and taken from their sight. They were still gazing up into the heavens when two messengers dressed in white stood beside them. “You Galileans – why are you standing here looking up at the skies?” they asked. “Jesus, who has been taken from you – this same Jesus will return, in the same way you watched him go into heaven.” Acts 1:8-11

I heard once somewhere that parenthood is a process of “letting go.” At times a difficult process, but a necessary one, in order to nurture mature people contributing positively to our society and to our world. Nobody likes to say “goodbye,” whether it is when our adult children move out of the house, whether it is when a friend moves away, when we change jobs, and especially when someone we love dearly passes on from this life to the next, but sometimes it is necessary in order to pass from one phase of living to another.

Christ is like a good parent letting go, saying “goodbye” to his friends on Ascension Day, which took place on a Thursday ten days prior to Pentecost. The disciples watch Jesus rising up into the clouds in the sky. Two messengers dressed in white, presumably angels, ask them what seems on the surface to be a strange question, “Why are you standing here looking up at the skies?”

The disciples must have thought, “Hey, Angels, what kind of question is that?” The apostles’ great leader of a three-year movement – who performed miracles and healings, taught with great authority, was put to death by the political and religious powerbrokers of the time, and appeared to many disciples in the 40-day run-up to his ascension – just disappears before their sight. And it is not everyday that someone happens to float up into the clouds! Of course they would be looking on wondering where he has gone.

In such a context, the angels do not appear to be asking for information. There must be something rhetorical in the question the angels pose. I think what they are really saying is, “What’s the point of looking upwards?”

Which then begs another question: “Where else should the disciples be focusing their attention?” If it is not UPWARDS, then perhaps it should be OUTWARDS. Looking out at each other and at their world, instead of looking up passively for only God to do something. Right before Jesus leaves them on top of the Mount of Olives, they had asked him to restore the Kingdom of Judah away from the control of the Roman Empire. He tells them that it is not his to decide. Rather than looking passively for change from elsewhere, they are the ones who should take action for a better world. God wants us to take the initiative, to personally involve ourselves in the plight of our world and of those around us.

What, then, is the significance of Ascension Day? It is the ascent of us as humans to live up to God’s dream of a better way for all God’s children on this earth. It is not as much celebrating Christ’s drift upwards into the cloudy sky, but rather for Christ’s followers to allow God to lift them up to assume their place to live more like Christ and to make the love of God tangible in a needy world. It is the call of God asking us as humans to STEP UP and to change the status quo of greed, violence, competition, and alienation from each other. We are to assume the responsibility for the improvement of our world.

In short, like any good parent, God wants us to GROW UP to be positive contributors to all God’s creation. This is why Jesus has to leave the scene, in order to wean the disciples off of a passive dependence on him. This is why Jesus promises the gift of the Holy Spirit to come later from Pentecost onwards, so that the Spirit can empower and energize them to do greater acts of positive change than the solitary person of Jesus on earth could do (“I will send you the Holy Spirit, … and you will do greater works than I”).

Good parents also yearn for a higher plain of relating to their grown-up and mature children, to be able to enjoy them more as deep friends than as their wards and responsibilities. It is in the growing up, in the ascent of our souls, that we can enjoy a deeper way of knowing God. The earlier words of Jesus resonate on this very point, that we are no longer SLAVES to God, but rather God’s FRIENDS: “I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends , because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Heavenly Father.” Friends share things together and have a mutual regard for the dignity of each other. This is the kind of relationship God wants to have with us, God’s adult children.

But we can only be mature children of God when our daily lives focus less on how we think God should bless us and more on looking for ways we can be a blessing God puts on our path. This is nothing less than to promote God’s dream of mutual love and enjoyment for all God’s people beyond the divisions and demarcations humans set up all the time. Small children, and some of us adults in our immature moments, think in terms of certitudes, in extremes, of good guys versus bad guys, of “us” versus “them.” When we do so, that is when we put up the walls that divide us.

God, though, is asking us to ascend over the walls and divisions, to rise above our pettiness and insistence on only our own way. It is to live and work for a time when God’s dream is made tangible, when we welcome each other as we are while paradoxically always striving to ascend to that which we can become.

This morning, I received in my email a copy of the weekly article from a mentor of mine, the Rev. Dr. Dan Heischman, Executive Director of the National Association of Episcopal Schools. He outlined three lessons on moral leadership during these unprecedented and confusing times: (1) comfort with uncertainty (but willing to act decisively and with clarity when called for); (2) combining commitment to the truth of reality with offering inspiration – like Sir Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of Great Britain during World War II, who had the ability to convey stark reality within an inspirational message of hope; and (3) being nimble enough to avoid becoming overly attached to a particular outcome or hoped-for scenario. These are wise words for all of us, who are all leaders of one kind or another – in our jobs, homes, friendship circles, etc. In short, even during this pandemic, we all can take concrete measures to act for the common good.

What is Ascension Day for us? Why are we still looking upwards, when we can be looking beyond ourselves to a brighter future?

I close with the Collect Prayer for the Ascension:

Grant, we pray, Almighty God, that as we believe your only-begotten Son our Lord Jesus Christ to have ascended into heaven, so we may also in heart and mind there ascend, and with him continually dwell; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

I ka mahalo o ke Akua,
Kahu Kawika+
For the aged and infirm, for the widowed and orphans, and for the sick and the suffering, especially Richard, Mikey, Netta, Bill, and those we name silently or aloud, let us pray to the Lord. ​Lord, have mercy. 

For all who have died, especially those affected by the COVID-19 virus and those we name silently or aloud, in the hope of the resurrection, and for all the departed, let us pray to the Lord. Lord, have mercy. Amen.
Celebrating Graduation
May 24, 2020 – Easter 7
As graduation season begins in the midst of closed school buildings and online learning, we encourage congregations to be creative in their approaches to honoring traditional spring rites of passage. Not only are high school seniors missing their moment to walk across a stage to receive a diploma, but many college seniors have also been sheltering in place and will never be back on their campuses to celebrate and say farewell to the friends they made during their higher education experience. Even our Episcopal seminaries are planning for digital graduation ceremonies this spring.

The Faith Formation Department’s Office for Youth Ministries and Young Adult and Campus Ministries have been curating ideas, resources, and liturgies to share across the Church with all of our faith communities. We hope that rural and isolated communities as well as program-sized parishes will find something that works for them. Our rituals and liturgies are designed for marking time through the liturgical year, for sharing our common story as Christian souls engaged in a mortal journey on Mother Earth. Let’s make sure that during this time of isolation in a pandemic, our rising seniors know that they are valued in appropriate and helpful ways.
A Prayer for Graduates

God of knowledge and understanding, you gave to the student Elisha a double portion of his teacher’s spirit: grant that all whose graduations we celebrate today may embody the best of their teachers’ heart, mind, and body, building on their knowledge and understanding, and putting to right and compassionate use all that they have gained from their time in school; through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Teacher. Amen.

A Prayer for Schools and Colleges

O Eternal God, bless all schools, colleges, and universities, and especially All Saints' Preschool, that they may be lively centers for sound learning, new discovery, and the pursuit of wisdom; and grant that those who teach and those who learn may find you to be the source of all truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Find more resources, including worship bulletins, prayers and blessings, service videos, and more at  https://lessonplansthatwork.org/celebrating- graduation . To share additional resources, email the Rev. Shannon Kelly, Director of Faith Formation and Officer for Young Adult and Campus Ministries, at  skelly@episcopalchurch.org   or Bronwyn Skov, Officer for Youth Ministry, at  bskov@episcopalchurch.org .

Published by the Office of Formation of The Episcopal Church, 815 Second Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017
© 2020 The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. All rights reserved.
Congratulations to the youth of All Saints' Church for completing their schooling for the year 2019 - 2020. 

This special class managed to work through remote learning, non-gatherings, and informal celebrations. We honor their hard work and resilience. Their ability to stay positive and adapt is truly inspirational. 

Please tune in to Kapa`a High School's Graduation today, Friday, May 22, 2020 at 5:30PM. Hawai`i Stream will present a Facebook Live Stream on their page. 

Click here for more information. 

Below is a tribute to our Senior Class and other special graduates.

Again, congratulations. The sky is the limit for you all!

Love,

-Cami Baldovino
Youth Minister 
Grads 2020
Raiden will be attending Oregon State University and studying bioengineering. Braden will be attending Kauai Community College and studying culinary arts. Daileen will be attending Portland Community College for her prerequisites with plans to transfer to Portland State University. These three seniors all graduated from Kapa’a High School.
Micah and Noah graduated from Kapa`a Middle School and will be attending Kapa`a High School. Hannah graduated from Kilauea Elementary School and will be attending Kapa`a Middle School.
Neva is entering eighth grade at Chiefess K.M.S. Nora graduated from All Saints' Preschool and will be attending kindergarten at Wilcox Elementary School.
All Saints' Tree of Love
Send Your Love and Messages of Hope
Update: More cards have been hung on the cross. You still have a ONE week to add yours!

For this Easter Season, All Saints’ invites the congregation to send their love and messages of hope. 

Similar to the Japanese “Wishing Tree,” members may fill in an order form online with a short message and names of those they want to dedicate it to. 

The messages will be written on Lily cards like the one pictured above and hung on the wooden cross in front of All Saints' Church. 

This “Tree of Love” will be up through the Easter season (until May 31 st ). 
Feel free to invite your friends and family members outside of All Saints’ to participate. 
 
Those who also want to include a love donation may send their checks to All Saints' or visit our Paypal site with the memo “Tree of Love.” 
 
Thanks! 

-Cami Baldovino
This Week In Sunday School
Enjoy Your Memorial Day Weekend!
Henry Digby Sloggett Memorial Fund Supports Needed Improvements

21 st  Century Infrastructure for 21 st  Century Outreach
It is no secret that the old All Saints’ WiFi network was inadequate for today’s needs. It worked well in the Church Office and Rectory but in other areas of the campus it was unreliable at best. The current COVID-19 lock-down has highlighted the need for reliable internet access so All Saints’ can continue to carry out its various Ministries. 

Under the direction of Ron Morinishi and with financial support from the Henry Digby Sloggett Memorial Fund , All Saints’ contracted with local service providers to run fiber optic connections to each building on the All Saints’ campus. As it turns out, this is the perfect time, with both the preschool and church closed, to proceed with the trenching, laying pipe, and electrical work needed for the project. Check out the slideshow below to see the work in progress.
The quotes below were taken directly from the Sloggett Fund Grant Application, written and submitted by Ron Morinishi. These passages describe the unmet need and how the funds are to be used.

Funds Use:
The funds will be used to connect the entire campus (Rectory, Preschool, Sanctuary, Memorial Hall and Gym) with fiber optic high speed internet. The fiber system will connect to a wi-fi system in each bulding. Fiber connection is required because of the large distances between buildings (network cable is limited to 328 ft). Currently, we have direct internet access only in the preschool and rectory buildings. An attempt was made using wifi connectivity between buildings, but it was unreliable at best and now is non-functional.

Our Need:
Internet access is needed in our other campus facilities for a number of church activities. In the Sanctuary, we depend upon the internet for remote operation of our sound system and also to enable live streaming of church services. In Memorial Hall, Japanese dance and Hawaiian Hula classes are held requiring access to internet music and video. Also, various meetings are held there requiring internet cloud access for presentation and datafiles. The gym also houses our youth group room and choir room. The youth group uses the internet for streaming music and video. The choir director needs the internet to connect to the music publishing computer system, besides accessing streaming music for choir practices.

IMPORTANT UPDATE

We are pleased to announce that the new All Saints' Wifi network is up and running in every building! Each has a guest channel, with password protection, for use by church members and guests. Each building has its own Local Area Network (LAN) that is distinct from the Preschool's. This allows for a firewall between campus users and the Preschool office network.

The 5G channels are very high speed (100-300 Mb/s); however, the signal doesn't go too far (limited to inside the buildings). The gym 5G reaches the Youth room and Choir room. The 2G channels are still fast (30-50 Mb/s) and reach outside to the picnic tables and deck area.

The other non-guest channels are for official church use, and all have password protection. 

If you need to access either the Guest Network or any Non-guest Network please contact Ron Morinishi.

Mahalo to the entire team. This new network is designed to serve All Saints' for years to come. If you get a chance, try out each LAN and see how good the reception is for your devices.

-Ron Morinishi
Farm-To-School
" Advocating, educating, and driving action towards a sustainable Kaua`i. "
Click here for more information.
JUNE 7: TRINITY SUNDAY HEADS UP!
Trinity Sunday is coming up on June 7, and each year, the Diocese has set this day for a special collection to go to Camp Mokule`ia. Our Camp has been especially hard hit this year, with its entire summer camp program cancelled and the future of group gatherings uncertain. Please be on the lookout for a special announcement letting you know what you can do to support them.
INVITE WELCOME CONNECT FREE WEBINAR: BEING CHURCH IN THE DIGITAL WORLD
Wednesday, June 10 th
Our faith communities are navigating unchartered waters as to how best to Invite, Welcome, and Connect virtually. As we live into these challenging realities, Invite Welcome Connect is excited to partner with you to equip clergy and lay leaders in reimagining and redefining how we engage in ministry and live into a new Way of Love. Join seasoned Invite Welcome Connect practitioners (both clergy and lay) to learn about best practices in the digital world. This gathering is free but registration is required. For more information and to register, click  HERE .
PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO LISTEN TO THIS SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE FROM OUR BISHOP!!
During this time of separation, Bishop Robert Fitzpatrick will be sharing video messages on Mondays and Wednesdays. To watch the Monday and Wednesday video messages click on his image below, or visit the Diocesan website  HERE .
BISHOP'S MONDAY MESSAGE
BISHOP'S WEDNESDAY MESSAGE

FROM THE EPISCOPAL CAFÉ
Wait for the Lord

May 19, 2020

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.

Psalm 27:14
 
Let me tell you about my strawberry plants. 
 
Next to our detached garage a bed of strawberries resides. White flowers pop out among the leaves and green strawberries hang heavy from the plants. If you look closely, peeking behind growing leaves, you’ll see shades of red covering a few strawberries. I keep telling our kids that with a little more sun and warmth we’ll have a bed full of red, ripe strawberries. 
 
Every morning we walk to the strawberries to note their progress. The berries themselves are getting bigger, more flowers are blooming, and more and more red can be found. There are too many strawberries to count. We have a running list of all the things we want to do with the strawberries: eat them fresh from the garden, make strawberry shortcake, bake them in muffins, drizzle them on ice cream, and our list goes on and on. 
 
It’s only mid-May and we can just about taste the juiciness of the strawberries. 
 
Yet, I’d be remiss to share that it’s been years since we’ve had a full bed of strawberries to anticipate. 
 
We first planted strawberries years ago in our front yard. We knew the first year would be a growing year but anticipated a bounty in the years to come. That is until we had to replant our plants due to a new garage being built. So we carefully moved the strawberries and left them in a heaping pile of dirt for another year. Not until the garage was finally built and another planting season arrived did we finally move our strawberries and transplant them next to the garage. Fast forward a few years and here we are finally seeing the literal fruits of years of waiting and care. 
 
The years leading up to today found us caring for the strawberry plants by covering them in the winter, making sure they had sunlight and water, and keeping any pests away. For a few summers we’d get a strawberry here and there but not the volume we’re seeing today. 
 
We planted, we watered, we waited, and we hoped. 
 
It seems like I could learn a few lessons from my strawberry plants. 
 
Many of us are currently in a season of waiting – waiting for it to be safe to gather in groups, waiting for restaurants and stores to open, waiting to see our loved ones, waiting to hug our friends and family, waiting to get healthy. Even without a global pandemic, we may be waiting for a new job, waiting to work on a relationship, or waiting for a health diagnosis. None of our waiting is done passively, but rather with a spirit of hope for what is to come. While we wait we continue to plant and nurture, caring for ourselves and for our neighbors. We pray, we read scripture, we sit in the stillness of God’s presence. 
 
We wait trusting that God waits with us in our longings, questions, doubts, and fears. We wait holding close to God’s truth that we are not alone. We wait offering our prayers for what is to come delighting in God’s provision right now.  
 
The other day we picked the first red, ripe strawberry and divided it among ourselves, a small bite each. The juice dripped down our fingers. In that bite I tasted the goodness that comes from years of waiting and hope-filled trust that God’s goodness is better than anything I can imagine. 
Kimberly Knowle-Zeller is an ordained ELCA pastor, mother of two, and spouse of an ELCA pastor. She lives with her family in Cole Camp, MO. You can read more at her  website , follow her work on  Facebook or  sign up for her monthly newsletter
Clergy, Scientists Grapple with Thoughts of Worship Without Congregational Singing

By Adelle M. Banks

Posted May 18, 2020
Scott DeYoung sings and plays guitar, joining Erin DeYoung and their three children in “Come to Me” by Wendell Kimbrough for an April morning worship service for the Church of the Servant in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Image courtesy of the DeYoungs

[Religion News Service] They are words the Rev. John Witvliet, an expert on Christian worship, never thought he would hear himself say.

“Based on the science that we are learning about this week, we are urging and I am personally urging extreme caution,” said Witvliet, director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in a Wednesday (May 13) interview.

“Singing together in congregations is a practice that we dearly love and are eager to promote, but loving our neighbor is job one here and so the time for fasting from this wonderful practice may be longer than any of us would like.”

His unprecedented words of warning come as religious leaders have received jarring predictions from scientists well-versed in virology as well as vocal practices. Webinars, videos and texts are circulating across the globe as scientists reveal their studies, and clergy must consider what to do with the results of those reports. Some church leaders aren’t yet sure what to do when they reopen, others are designing multiphase plans, and still others are moving ahead with their traditional practices of praise.

But, more than halfway across the country, Dr. Howard Leibrand, public health officer for Skagit County, Washington, appears to be in Witvliet’s amen corner.

“I would recommend that until we get a vaccine, we don’t do congregational singing,” he said, adding that it is “the safest recommendation.”

Leibrand was one of the investigators of the coronavirus outbreak that spread through a local chorale that had been meeting in a Presbyterian church. He is an author of a  report  published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that tracked the 61 people who attended the March 10 rehearsal with one symptomatic person. The report found that 87% of the group was confirmed to have COVID-19. Three members were hospitalized, and two of them died.

The report noted that, in addition to sitting next to each other, snack sharing, and stacking chairs after the rehearsal, the singing by chorale members could have led to infection via the transmitting of droplets.

“The act of singing, itself, might have contributed to transmission through emission of aerosols, which is affected by loudness of vocalization,” it says.

Leibrand, a congregational singer and a member of a nondenominational church that meets in homes, said that even though the chorale was not specifically a church choir, “I think it has some cross-utility for making predictions about what would happen in a church choir, too.”

When the Rev. Leslie Callahan of Philadelphia’s St. Paul’s Church met via Zoom with her deacons on Tuesday, one of the top concerns they discussed was whether there would be singing when they reopen. She had read articles, including about the infected chorale. She had also viewed the much-shared  webinar  hosted by singing associations where an  otolaryngologist  posited that it could be 18 to 24 months before group singing makes scientific sense.

“It doesn’t sound like singing is safe, especially not congregational singing, which is from my perspective a really important feature of worship,”  Callahan  said. “Singing together is a big deal. In fact, not having a handle on this may make me postpone when we start to worship together again.”

Her historic, predominantly black church, which draws a congregation of 150 to 175 people — some of whom are at special risk — on a regular Sunday, is located in a part of Pennsylvania that remains in the red phase, under a shelter-in-place order through at least June 4.

Callahan, whose church is dually aligned with American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A. and Progressive National Baptist Convention, said she has wondered about the possibility of teaching congregants signs or dance moves so there can be some new way to relate to familiar songs. She is also considering adding screens to the sanctuary — even before the ones planned for an upcoming renovation — that would feature prerecorded musical performances similar to those now on the church’s weekly livestream.

“I’m really trying to figure out what it feels like to have church where people don’t sing,” she said. “It goes against, really, the heart of my understanding of what it means for us to worship together.”

Some denominational officials have already issued advice in light of warnings from the scientific community.

Citing the information from the singing organizations and other research, the Archdiocese of Baltimore this month has declared in  guidelines  for future Masses that “congregational singing by the assembly is suspended until further notice. Because singing expels significantly more aerosolized particles of virus than speaking, it creates a much greater risk of spreading the virus. In particular, choirs should not rehearse or sing until further notice.”

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton issued a caution after a briefing with a doctor from the CDC and other National Council of Churches leaders.

“He also revealed to us that singing is right up there with coughing and sneezing in spreading this disease,” she said in a May 1  video . “So I think it’s very important for us, as different states and different governors are opening up society again, to be very careful and very deliberate in the way we go about reintroducing in-person worship.”


Presiding Bishop will Preach at Ecumenical Memorial Service on May 24 for COVID-19 Victims

By Egan Millard

Posted May 20, 2020
Presiding Bishop Michael Curry

[Episcopal News Service] Presiding Bishop Michael Curry will offer a brief sermon for a  virtual memorial service  for the victims of the COVID-19 pandemic hosted by the National Council of Churches on May 24 at 6 p.m. Eastern time.

Over 325,000 people worldwide  have died of COVID-19 , including more than 92,000 in the United States. The NCC noted in a  press release  announcing the memorial service that “the nation has not had a public moment of collective grief to acknowledge and mourn the impact of losing so many lives in such a short period of time.”

“Every life deserves to be remembered and properly acknowledged in the most meaningful way possible,” said Jim Winkler, president and general secretary of the National Council of Churches. “Religious ritual is an incomparable way to do just that. We’ve planned a program we hope Christians of all traditions will feel comfortable joining in — as well as those of other religions and no religion at all. This is as much about human dignity as it is about faith.”

Titled “A Time To Mourn” (a reference to  Ecclesiastes 3 ), the service will include reflections of “lament, comfort, encouragement, and hope” from Curry and other leaders from NCC member churches, as well as music and Scripture readings.

The  NCC  – an alliance of Christian denominations in America, including The Episcopal Church – invites all to participate in the “time of remembering, mourning and celebrating the lives of loved ones.” Those who would like to include the names of loved ones who have died during the pandemic can  submit them here .

– Egan Millard is an assistant editor and reporter for Episcopal News Service. He can be reached at emillard@episcopalchurch.org.
Church of Ireland Leaders Commend ‘Sacrifice of Personal Liberty’ During COVID-19 Lockdown

Posted May 14, 2020
St. Patrick's Church, Kenmare, County Kerry, Ireland
Photo by former Rector, the Rev. Robert Caldwell
[Anglican Communion News Service] The archbishops of Armagh and Dublin, John McDowell and Michael Jackson, issued a statement on May 12 in response to indications by the governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom and the devolved administration in Northern Ireland on “road maps” to gradually ease the lockdowns in each territory. The Church of Ireland is an all-island Anglican church that serves both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.

“Although the road maps differ somewhat from one another, they all point to a gradual and a graduated easing of restrictions,” the archbishops said. “Each is set out in stages and presupposes that movement to the next stage will require satisfactory progress against certain criteria. It is acknowledged that there may be setbacks.”

Thy Kingdom Come 2020: Short Reflections from Across the Anglican Communion – Part 1

21 May 2020
Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven

What do we imagine or long for when we pray these familiar words? Where do we see glimpses of God’s kingdom in our world? How can we help in making God’s kingdom more present on earth?

At the Anglican Alliance, these questions are always close to our heart, but they are especially urgent right now. As the Lord’s Prayer Bible study in our new resource,  Faith in the Time of Coronavirus , asks: what could it mean for God’s kingdom to come and God’s will to be done on earth at this time, in the specific context of the COVID-19 pandemic?

Today, Ascension Day, is the start of the Thy Kingdom Come initiative (see below for background). For these ten days, the staff members of the Anglican Alliance have written short reflections on what they hope for when they pray “Thy Kingdom Come” for their region or area of work. Each contributor has written from their heart, sharing their longings both in the specific context of COVID-19 and more broadly. They write of their prayers for – and glimpses of – peace, reconciliation, restoration of ecosystems and relationships, for justice to prevail, for economic empowerment, for food security, for better health, for resilience and for flourishing.

We hope the reflections will give you insights into the challenges and joys in different areas of the Anglican Communion, help inform your own prayers and help you feel connected to the work and staff of the Anglican Alliance. The contributions in this piece are from:




IN BRIEF . . .
These news briefs were featured in previous issues of "The Epistle"

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