19 March 2020

Dear Sisters, Brothers, Siblings,

Grace and peace be with you in Jesus, our Crucified and Risen Savior!

I want to assure you of my prayer and support as we continue working together to address the ongoing challenges and concerns due to the COVID 19 Pandemic. As I wrote last week, as People of God, it is our moral, civic, and spiritual obligation to care for one another by taking the necessary steps to slow the spread of this virus while continuing to serve our communities with generosity and hope. To that end, the Missioners and I have been in many conversations on a daily basis, as we seek to support and resource those entrusted to our care, EACH OF YOU, who are part of the faith communities of the Episcopal Church in Northern Indiana.

On Wednesday, 18 March, we began a Weekly ZOOM Conference Call with our Clergy and Lay Leaders. Items on the agenda included an opportunity for folks to check in, to share what’s working as well as what needs our attention. There were 44 participants on this initial call.

A significant amount of our time was spent discussing Online or Virtual Worship. Canon Michelle and Canon Christopher prepared an Online Worship Survey that we reviewed. With the help of our deans, Mother Mindy Hancock, Father Matthew Cowden and Father David Pearson and Canon Michelle and Canon Christopher, we are moving forward with four opportunities for ONLINE Daily Prayer: Morning Prayer, Noon Day Prayer, Evening Prayer and Compline, led by various clergy and lay persons throughout our diocese. You can join Online Daily Prayer by visiting our new Facebook page at EDNIN Virtual Worship.

We also discussed various Social Media Platforms and encouraged our Clergy and Lay Leaders to use them and to consider signing up for free conference call or to purchase an account on ZOOM.

The next item on our agenda was to discuss the financial realities that we are or may soon be facing. Some participants shared that they had already sent out an email communication encouraging people to continue paying their pledge and offered various ways to do so. Those options can be found on here. (Givelify and Tithe.ly) Others shared concerns about prioritizing what to pay and asked if the Diocese had any resources to support those faith communities who may be facing financial challenges. I said that I would have a conversation with the Finance Committee and the Directors of the Diocesan Foundation. I encouraged every faith community to make it their first priority to pay their clergy and lay staff, secondly, their utilities bills and insurance and thirdly, their diocesan assessment. We will revisit the financial issues on a regular basis.

Our call concluded with an invitation to please share what was discussed with others who are part of the leadership of your faith community. Our next Weekly ZOOM Conference Call with Clergy and Lay Leaders is scheduled for next Wednesday, 25 March at 2 p.m. EDT / 1 p.m. CDT.

Earlier on Wednesday, I was part of a ZOOM Conference Call with the Bishops of Province V to check in with one another as well as share resources and concerns. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry joined us on the call. He assured us of his support and prayer and thanked us for our leadership as bishops. We also had a brief discussion about his news release, sent out on Tuesday, concerning “the need to suspend in-person gatherings for public worship, in most contexts, during the sacred time of Holy Week and Easter Day.” The Presiding Bishop’s statement indicates that our consensus last week to suspend in person public worship until the end of March will need to be reconsidered and most likely means “until further notice.”

It is important to underscore here that our faith communities in Northern Indiana haven’t closed. We are being called to reimagine new ways to be the church, in worship, in education and formation, in pastoral care and in outreach. I encourage you to have conversations with one another, identifying and affirming creative ways, given our present circumstances, to live into the Five Marks of Mission: Tell, Teach, Tend, Transform and Treasure!

I have invited the Clergy of our diocese into a conversation via ZOOM next Tuesday, 24 March, to discuss the need to suspend in person public worship during Holy Week and Easter Day and how we might creatively and imaginatively engage in online worship throughout our diocese. I also hope to encourage conversation about how our clergy are continuing their good work of pastoral care during these challenging times.

Remember, we are called to be People of Hope during these worrisome and anxious days!

Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine: Glory to God from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen!” Ephesians 3:20,21

Doug

The Rt. Rev. Dr. Douglas E. Sparks
VIII Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana