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This week, guidelines for indoor worship and gatherings have been published for the use of all the churches of our diocese. We can all be grateful for the Journey Forward Team’s hard work. Co-chaired by the Rev. Vicki McGrath, All Saints’, Millington and Ms. Pat McKenzie, Church of the Saviour, Denville, this group researched and reflected on the challenges and needs of our congregations at worship.

The guidelines and planning forms they created are important tools for helping every congregation to decide when and how to begin in-person worship. Read more.

Here is Bishop Hughes' sermon at the live-streamed diocesan Memorial Service on June 13, 2020, at which we mourned online those whom we could not mourn in person due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Click on the video at right to watch (closed captions available; time: 12:51), or click here to read the transcript.

If you'd like to watch the full Memorial Service (time: 55:15), click here.

These last few months have been different from anything in living memory. We are all left in some way unmoored, set adrift, not knowing how to find the way, or even where we are going. Some of us are still in the early stages of dealing with unbearable loss, some have risked their lives for the good of the community, some of us find ourselves in a precarious status with regard to job, home or food, some of us have had the relative luxury of working safely from home and had food and family with us—and yet, none of us knows really what we will face next. Read more.

The economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic is transforming the 38-year-old feeding ministry of one Diocese of Newark congregation. Toni’s Kitchen at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Montclair, New Jersey, has quadrupled the number of meals it serves each week, causing the ministry to run far over budget and turning its normally quiet building into a bustling food warehouse. Read more.

The Diocese of Newark has set up online giving to support the diocese’s food pantries. Simply visit e-giving.dioceseofnewark.org and go to Area of Greatest Need: Food Pantries (second item from the top). Donations made from June 24 through July 7, 2020 will go to Toni's Kitchen.

The red carpet was out on Saturday, May 16th, but it was more likely trod by bunny slippers than platform heels as choir members and friends of St. Mark’s Church in Teaneck staged a “virtual variety show” called Saturday Night, Semi-Live. Read more.

If you happen to be driving or walking by St. Stephen’s Church in downtown Millburn, you'll see a simple, pandemic-safe way to show support for racial justice: you can stop and tie one of the red ribbons provided on their fence, joining with others in the community who have already done so. This visual witness might just encourage someone’s change of heart, which is the first step to the kind of change that can literally change the world.

Bishop Carlye Hughes is eager to once again spend time in conversation with the members of the diocese, to reflect and consider what we, our churches, and our communities have learned and experienced as we have adjusted to the changes this time has demanded of us. This second monthly Zoom conversation is open to all members of the diocese. Find out more.

Also, save the date for next Lay Conversation with the Bishop on Tuesday, July 21.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on every aspect of our lives has yet to be fully realized. The impact on mental health has already begun to show itself.

In May and early June, Bishop Hughes hosted Zoom gathering with all diocesan congregations, grouped into eight Regional Ministry Networks. For the Summer Zoom gatherings of these Networks, the Bishop has asked Canon Margo Clark to engage an expert on mental health topics, depression in particular, so prevalent during this time of sustained trauma due to the pandemic. Dr. Dan Hale from Johns Hopkins will be with us to talk about depression mental health in communities of faith. He has a new book on the topic (limited copies will be available) In the words of an early book review, his book will help us all “… (become) well informed, inspired to seek help, engage in self-care, remain hopeful, and reach out to those who have suffered in the shadows for so long from this crippling illness.” Please join to learn more and to talk about how to help support mental health in our congregations and in other parts of our lives! Dr. Hale is a passionate and interesting speaker, you will learn a lot!

The four Summer Zoom gatherings will each include two adjacent Networks as follows:

More information will be forthcoming in the July 8 edition of The Voice Online.

Join Cross Roads this summer for special online Wednesdays Away gatherings on July 1 and August 5. These gatherings will occur virtually on Zoom, from 10 am until noon, and are open to all people interested in deepening their spiritual life this summer. Click here to learn more and register.

Did you know? While anti-racism training is required for diocesan office holders, clergy and diocesan staff, it's open to - and recommended for - everyone. What better time than now?

This training, offered by the Diocese of New Jersey in four Friday evening sessions, fulfills our diocesan requirements. Registration deadline July 6; fee $50. Find out more.

All college students of the diocese (rising Freshmen through Seniors) are invited to join online via Zoom with Bishop Hughes to share hopes, worries and fears in this uncertain time. The gathering will begin and end with prayers and hymns and will feature a stirring homily by Bishop Hughes. Find out more.

All youth grades 6-12 are invited to participate in the next Pop Up Youth Ministry Zoom meeting. Register online, download the flyer and find out more.

Join Episcopal and Lutheran congregations around the state for a Cross Roads Camp Sunday on July 12! The camp staff will provide a ready-to-use worship service recording, including a sermon from Executive Director Anthony Briggs, for churches to use if they choose, in place of or as part of their services.

Congregational leaders will have the option to download the full service, just the sermon, or stream the service on the Cross Roads YouTube channel. Materials, including the videos, will be available by Monday, July 6 on the Cross Roads website.

Registration is OPEN for Cross Roads' virtual summer camp programming, including Leadership Lab, a week-long leadership program for high schoolers (July 19-25), and Day Camp at Home, a five-day day-camp-at-home program for younger campers (July 13-17).

Visit the Cross Roads website for more information on all upcoming programming.

The new Journey Forward page in the COVID-19 Information section of the website contains the guidelines, forms and sign templates published this week by the Journey Forward Team, as well as other resources for congregational worship.

We are continuing to post opportunities to worship online with congregations across our diocese on our Online & Home Worship page. Please send changes to Nina Nicholson at [email protected]. Updates received after 4 PM Friday will be posted the following week.

Bishop Hughes has invited members of the diocese to write and share their own prayers during the COVID-19 pandemic. We are collecting these prayers at Prayers of Pandemic from the Diocese of Newark and sharing them in The VOICE and on social media.

Prayers can be sent to Canon Wright at [email protected] for posting. Please include the name and town of your church.

In this time of national upheaval, outrage, and fear, The Episcopal Church’s Department of Reconciliation, Justice and Creation Care and the Office of Government Relations have assembled resources to assist individuals, congregations and communities seeking to LEARN, PRAY and ACT. Please use and share these resources, and send your own resources and stories.

Find out more at episcopalchurch.org/responding-to-racist-violence.

In January of 2020, the General Convention Office released a new data tool that allows congregations and dioceses to view ten year trends in Parochial Report data, as well as provide a demographic snapshot for the neighborhood around every parish in the United States. This tool is available online and accessible to everyone.

Find out more at generalconvention.org/data-trends.

Go to episcopalnewsservice.org/tag/coronavirus for their full coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic as it's affecting The Episcopal Church.