July 30, 2020
Dear Friends in Christ:
Not much has changed at church. Our Sunday morning 8am services have been drawing about 18 people on average. Our 10am streamed services have been well "attended," with about 50-60 households each week. The midweek services (Compline and Windows) seem to get around a dozen viewers each time.
Obviously, these streamed services cannot compare to the joy of actually being together, but they are keeping us connected to God and one another during these very strange times. Thanks to all who have joined in, either in person, or through "the ether."
On to the updates . . .
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WORSHIP
We continue to offer several services each week--four are streamed online, and one is in the building, for those who feel comfortable gathering in person.
Sunday
:
8:00 am we open the doors for Morning Prayer, Rite I. We have 22 "booths" for seating, and members of a household can sit together. We can accommodate somewhere between 22 and 44 persons at this service. By way of a reminder, everyone
must
wear a mask, so please bring your own--if you forget, we will have a limited supply available. Everyone
must
enter through the parking lot doors, and provide contact information (if we don't already have it).
10:00 am, we will stream Morning Prayer, Rite II. The service outline is
HERE
, and hymns are
HERE
.
This service will only be available online, due to restrictions against singing together.
Tuesday only
: We will stream The Great Litany and sung Compline at 7pm, on Facebook and at our website.
PLEASE NOTE
: We will
not
be streaming Compline next Thursday, August 6th, as the Rector is taking a few days off.
Wednesday:
at 12:30pm, we feature one of our lovely stained-glass windows with prayers, and musical accompaniment by Choirmaster Andrew Bolden. (Only on our
Facebook
page.)
More information on all our services can be found at the
Calendar
page of our website, and all streamed services are then uploaded to our
youtube
page.
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WEEKLY PUZZLE (and Corrections)
This week's puzzle features the center window from the east wall of the Higginbotham Lounge. You will find the puzzle by clicking
HERE
. You can choose your background color, number of puzzle pieces, and even set it to display just the edge pieces. Plus, you get a very affirming crowd reaction once you have completed it!
This window is one of six that replaced the windows removed by thieves in 1973. (You can find more information about that by clicking
HERE
.) The window in the puzzle features the Episcopal Shield at the top, with engravings of our original church building, as well as our current building.
CORRECTION:
In last week's puzzle, I mistakenly attributed the bull to be associated with St. Mark and the lion with St. Luke. Those are actually reversed. So, angel=Matthew, lion=Mark, bull=Luke, eagle=John. Extra bonus points to Chris Lane for alerting me to the error.
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BIRTHDAYS and ANNIVERSARIES
Celebrating birthdays this week are Missy Meek (8/3), and David Wigginton (8/6). Also, a birthday we missed, Jennifer Card celebrated her birthday on July 8th.
Helen Keplinger and D.J. Warner will celebrate their anniversary on August 4th.
Be sure to send happy thoughts and good wishes to all who celebrate this week!
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PRAYERS REQUESTED
Please keep these friends and parishioners in your prayers.
David Wigginton, Keith Rowland, Joyce Vitale, Brian Dorosch, Don Zimmerman, Rachel Sanchez, Anne Smith, Carrie Morrison, Bob Meyer, Chris Lane, Chelsey Levin, John Locy, Rita Haines, Ruby Baum, and Judy Wigginton.
And do call the office if there's anyone you'd like to have added.
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WHAT WE CAN DO
Our food pantry has been slowly building back up as folks drop off more non-perishable supplies. We have started getting more calls and people knocking on the door, looking for help. I expect this to increase as the moratoriums on evictions and utility disconnections expire next week. If you're able to bring in food and toiletries in the coming weeks, that would be most helpful. We have
plenty
of canned vegetables. But we could use more high-protein foods (canned meats and fish, peanut butter, etc.), as well as pasta and sauce. Also, boxed milk seems like a good idea (and very European). Please don't bring any food that has past its expiry date.
Also, ordinarily, we would be collecting backpacks and school supplies right now, to distribute through the Salvation Army. I have not heard from them as to whether they are doing that this year. (I can't imagine how they could safely move the usual 800 kids through their building, to be honest.)
So, if you know someone who needs help with school supplies--or if you could use some help with school supplies--please call the church office. We have folks who have specifically offered to help with those purchases, and the kids are under enough stress right now, without also lacking the tools they need to learn.
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THINKING AHEAD
The more I look at the trends and think about the future, the more complicated things become. Our neighbor state of Michigan has rolled things back to indoor gatherings being limited to 10 persons. We are living with a statewide mask mandate here in Ohio, along with a 14-day quarantine for those coming from many states. While vaccines are getting closer, we're still probably looking at sometime next year for that. All of which gets me to thinking about things like what our Christmas services will look like, and how we can possibly have an Annual Meeting, and when will we hear our glorious choir, and when will we get to see each other again . . .
There are times when these thoughts make me pretty sad, I have to admit. I suppose we could call it "grief in advance." However, we don't really know what the future will hold. We can guess what will happen, and we plan as best we can, but none of us actually knows what will happen. And, in that, maybe we can find our hope:
In Jeremiah 29:11, we read . . .
"
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
As I've been saying a lot these past few months, we don't know the future, but we know who holds the future. And we are held in the palm of God's hand, no matter what the future might bring.
Please be safe, for the sake of your friends and family, and never lose hope. Never, ever, lose hope.
Faithfully,
Fr. George
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