2 April 2020
Dear Sisters, Brothers, Siblings,
Grace and peace be with you in Jesus, our Crucified and Risen Savior!
Know that you are upheld in prayer daily as we continue to adjust to the changes and challenges of living through the COVID 19 Pandemic!
A pattern has been established over the last few weeks which some of you have become a part of…Tuesday morning – Clergy ZOOM Call, Wednesday afternoon – Clergy and Lay Leader ZOOM Call. I am so very grateful for your willingness to lean into these days together. Thank you!
On the Monday afternoon, weekly ZOOM Conference Call with our Presiding Bishop, a significant amount of time was spent of giving us an overview of the CARES Act that became legislation last Friday. Along with our chancellor, Dan Pfeifer and Canon Terri Bays, I participated in a webinar hosted by the Episcopal Church Foundation on Wednesday regarding the CARES ACT. On Thursday afternoon, our treasurers, Joe Walker and Tom Gresik, joined Dan Pfeifer and Canon Terri to design a plan forward for the diocese and our faith communities to prepare and submit an application to your local bank to participate in the Paycheck Protection Program. More information will be sent to our Parochial Clergy, Senior Wardens and Treasurers. It is important that you begin gathering the necessary financial information so each faith community that chooses can possibly benefit from this program. We are planning a ZOOM Webinar for next Tuesday, 7 April.
On Tuesday, our Clergy and I gathered for our Weekly ZOOM Conference Call. After checking in, we shared what was working as well as what needed our attention. A Virtual Worship Planning Group shared their plan for Holy Week and Easter Day Virtual Worship. Again, I want to thank everyone for their gifts and energy and prayerfulness in leading us together in Virtual Worship these coming days. Canon Terri Bays shared some basic information on the CARES Act as it has been rolling out during the first part of the week.
On Wednesday morning, I was part of our Weekly ZOOM Conference Call with the Bishops of Province V to check in with one another as well as share resources and concerns.
On Wednesday afternoon, we had our 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. We reviewed the plan for Digital Worship for Holy Week and Easter that can be found on our website. We shared news of the ongoing work of exploring how best to make use of the CARES act. I asked the clergy to remain on the call so that I could share some resources that I had received earlier in the day regarding physical distancing, the presence of Christ in Word, Sacrament and the Assembled Community and Spiritual Communion. The day before, our Presiding Bishop offered “A Word to the Church on Our Theology of Worship.” I received two other reflection papers that were written by Professors of Liturgics at General Theological Seminary and the Church Divinity School of the Pacific that I found helpful in attending to my own discomfort of not being able to gather to celebrate the Holy Eucharist. They can be found here.
Remember, we are called to be People of Hope during these worrisome and anxious days!
I want to conclude with a prayer found on in A PRAYER BOOK FOR THE ARMED SERVICES 2008 in the section entitled WHEN HOLY COMMUNION IS NOT AVAILABLE. I encourage you to pray this prayer…especially when you are feeling a real absence from your faith community, gathered in Word and Sacrament…
In union, O Lord, with your faithful people at every altar of your Church, where the Holy Eucharist is now being celebrated, I desire to offer to you praise and thanksgiving. I remember your death, Lord Christ; I proclaim your resurrection; I await your coming in glory. And since I cannot receive you today in the Sacrament of your Body and Blood, I beseech you to come spiritually into my heart. Cleanse and strengthen me with your grace, Lord Jesus, and let me never be separated from you. May I live in you, and you in me, in this life and in the life to come. Amen.
Doug
The Rt. Rev. Dr. Douglas E. Sparks
VIII Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Indiana