A Letter from Mother Bonnie regarding Covid-19

March 18, 2020

Dear Ones,

It can be difficult to recognize what we should believe, versus what is overblown, in the tsunami of information around us. What do know is that this:  the COVID-19 novel coronavirus is spreading faster than what we’ve seen in the past with SARS and MERS;  the people most exposed to serious complications are those over age 60, especially if they have underlying health issues; and we’ve seen our local school system close this week.

And we know both President Trump and Governor Kemp have declared a public health emergency, requesting closures whenever possible within public and private sectors, as well as places of worship, to stop the spread of the virus. Less face-to-face contact means less chance of contamination and we’re all asked to do our part to “flatten” the contamination curve. The time is now to confront the reality that if the spread does not stop, we could seriously impact the health of this country on multiple fronts — including both our people and our economy — with devastating results.

Our Bishop had joined both our government and health leaders in advising our Diocese to take that next step and to cease our public worship and face-to-face programs, rehearsals, and meetings until further notice. All Saints will comply with this request.

But although our doors are closed, we are not alone! God is with us and the Church is here for us all!

•   Tonight, Wednesday, March 18th, at 6:30, Deacon Janet and I will be leading our Wednesday Evening Lenten program via Facebook Live. You will be able to simply access the All Saints Facebook page or instead look for the link on our All Saints website home page at allsaintswr.org. Join us as we discuss the next line of the Lord’s Prayer, “give us this day our daily bread.” And if you haven’t joined us the last couple of weeks, please do consider jumping right in to watch, as you won’t have any trouble “catching up.” After all, we all know the Lord’s Prayer!

•   Beginning this Sunday, March 22, All Saints will again host a Facebook Livestream of  Morning Prayer at 10:15 a.m, accessible on our Facebook page, as well as by a link on the All Saints website home page. We will also have a PDF copy of the bulletin for this service on our website homepage by Friday, should you desire to print it out in advance. Please know that as I lead our Morning Prayer service, I will be referring you to our Book of Common page book numbers throughout the service. And if you don’t have a hard copy of our BCP, you can access it online at https://www.bcponline.org or download a pdf copy at https://episcopalchurch.org/files/book_of_common_prayer.pdf. And if all that is too complicated, email me, and I’ll arrange to loan you a BCP from the church.

•   And watch your email for additional information on other services that we can share virtually. I do plan to begin some online weekday Daily Office services as well as options for virtual small group study. If you are interested in working with me on an experiment for an online small group study, please email me, so I can get you specific information as I get ready to begin.

•   Plus we’ll be sending out a Sign-up Genius about Prayer Partners. Each of your Vestry members now participates in a prayer team that actively prays for one another. We’d like to help our congregation find prayer partners as well! If you sign-up for this opportunity, we’ll connect you to others who also would like to connect virtually to pray, as well as provide you some guidance and tools on how to make this happen.

Although we will not be seeing each other as regularly right now, please know that your All Saints staff is available and I encourage you to reach out with your needs. The most important thing during this season of social distancing is that we stay connected. I encourage you to bridge the distance with calls, emails, and texts, as well as with notes and cards. We will weather this time.

One final note: please know we are striving to keep our Food Pantry open during this difficult time, as the current situation puts even more strain on the poor. We’re doing some creative things to serve our clients while they remain outside in their cars, to maintain social distancing and keep everyone healthy. If you are one of our less vulnerable members (this can include our youth!) and have availability on Tuesday or Wednesday mornings to assist in the Food Pantry (i.e. rolling grocery carts of food items to/from the Food Pantry to cars in the front parking lot, directing people to parking spots and placing identification numbers on car windshields, etc.), we can use you! Please contact me via email for more specifics, if you could offer a few hours of your time.

These are uncharted waters, but with love and charity, and the grace of God, we will pull through united in our desire to follow Jesus’ Way of Love, as the Body of Christ. The way forward in this uncertain season is through love: God's love for us and our love for one another. We read in 1 John 4:18a, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” Remember, God is with us, and may we all come to know God's peace which surpasses all understanding.

Blessings,

Mother Bonnie+