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LIVE from St. Paul's - July 19, 2020
News from the Red Doors - July 17, 2020
Dear St. Paul's Family,
This past Sunday was an extremely busy and joy-filled Sunday for me. As your priest I celebrated by first, and second, Eucharists in our beautiful sanctuary. I wish you all could have been there. I know you were all there in spirit and in prayer.
It was such a privilege for me to celebrate at the exact altar where I first experienced an Episcopal Eucharistic service on Easter morning, March 30, 1997. Never in a MILLION years, on that day, did I imagine I'd have the privilege I did this past Sunday. I'm fairly certain the man I was dating then (Joe!) wouldn't have imagined it either. Praise God for his many ways of surprising us!
In speaking with a colleague earlier this week we reflected upon the weariness so many of us are experiencing in these pandemic days. It's more of an emotional weariness than a physical one. We discussed that because so many of the rules and guidelines to which we've structured our lives have changed, we are constantly adjusting to determine what is appropriate, what should be next, and how to keep everyone safe in the midst of it all. Our minds are active with worry and planning, and hopefully above all with prayer.
For me, however, the counterpart to this weariness boils down to celebrating the things we can, like having 10 or so people in-person at church, and thoroughly enjoying them! I believe the people that attended in-person this past Sunday would affirm that being in the church building was a blessing, and that our efforts to maintain social distancing and a clean, safe environment are going well. I know they would tell you that the angelic voice of Mona Coalter, singing with a microphone from ANOTHER room (which is the only way it can happen) was a joy they hadn't expected. I can also personally tell you that seeing a few familiar, and some new, faces was an incredible blessing to me and others. To these things I cling and rejoice! These things reduce my weariness!
On Sunday afternoon I had the pleasure of baptizing Dalton Thomas Floyd, son of Thomas and Mallory Floyd. In the moment that I poured the water over his precious little head I was reminded that amidst all of the chaos in our lives right now - baptisms still occur; babies still love water; and we can celebrate the faith we have even as we do so in new and different ways. (See picture below.)
This coming Sunday we will hear the parable of the Wheat and the Weeds. We will be reminded that the evil one lives among us and he plants the seeds that grow into the weeds that endeavor to choke out our faith. My friends, when we celebrate our Lord and Savior, when we cling to our beliefs AND our community, the weeds are barely a bump along our Christian journey. May we all remember that today, tomorrow, and always.
Blessings!
Mother Michelle
priest@stpaulslaporte.org | 219-575-0226
July 16, 2020 Determination Letter
My Dear Kindred in Christ,
It has been a rough week, with two of our counties moving from Orange to Red and another moving from Rising Yellow to Orange. One of our parishes has already had to put its contact-tracing plan into effect. Let us pray for strength and courage among all those who are working together to cope with these difficult circumstances. As a reminder, gatherings in these communities are to be online-only, with exceptions (e.g. funerals with < 10 people) only with the express permission of the bishop.
In the midst of that hard news, there is some good. Cass, LaGrange and Kosciusko counties have both moved out of the Orange zone all the way to Green-Yellow and Yellow-Falling respectively. Let us join them in giving thanks for the results of their hard work! Adams and Steuben have stayed in Green-Yellow all along, so let us give thanks for their steadfastness.
I remain together with you in Christ,
Terri
The Rev. Canon Terri L. Bays, PhD.
Missioner for Transitions and Governance
Emergency Response NGO/Government Liaison
LIVE from St. Paul's - July 12, 2020
July 9, 2020 Determination Letter
Please review the July 9, 2020 determination letter from the Diocese. We still wait and we still pray!
My Dear Kindred in Christ,
I present to you the determinations based on the number of new cases in each county for the past two weeks. As you will see, the situation has worsened in several places. This should not come as a surprise to you, given the way the case numbers have soared across the country. We encourage you to spend this time strengthening your online worship skills and continuing to reach out to your members in various types of pastoral care.
We have received a number of questions regarding when outdoor worship is appropriate. Gathering outdoors only lessens without eliminating the risk of infection—that’s why we require all the other precautions to still be in place for outdoor gathering. Outdoor gathering is not appropriate when your county is in the orange or red zones. If your county is in the yellow rising zone, however, outdoor worship is a reasonable alternative. If your county is in a green, green-yellow <5, or yellow falling zone, then worship indoors and out are both permissible. In all cases, please also take steps to protect your outdoor congregations from the heat.
We give thanks for your efforts to maintain connections among our people in these difficult days. We pray for your continued patience and creativity.
Blessings,
Terri
The Rev. Canon Terri L. Bays, PhD.
Missioner for Transitions and Governance
Emergency Response NGO/Government Liaison
News from the Red Doors - July 10, 2020
Dear St. Paul's Family,
This Sunday we will resume celebrating the Holy Eucharist, for the 10 in-person attendees we are able to welcome. In addition to a smaller crowd, many things will be different due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We won't process. Only one acolyte will be on the altar, and won't be allowed to help. I will not be allowed to sing, so I will speak the entire Eucharistic Prayer. I will wear a mask the entire time and, although you won't be able to see this, the bread/wafers will remain covered until the time of distribution. All of these are our best efforts to reduce the spread of any contagion. And through it all, we WILL celebrate communion.
Additionally, most of you will not have the the opportunity to be physically present. And some of you that are physically present may not yet be comfortable receiving the sacrament. Because of that, the 'regular' Post Communion Prayer (noted below) will be replaced with a Prayer for Communion with Christ (also noted below). The intention is to recognize that not everyone will receive communion on this Sunday and that we join in a sort of spiritual communion all together regardless of our physical locations. It may feel odd at first, but I think you'll find comfort and appreciation as we pray the prayer together. Bishop Doug suggested this specific prayer and it's placement in our liturgy.
'Regular' Post Communion Prayer
Almighty and everliving God, we most heartily thank thee for that thou dost feed us, in these holy mysteries, with the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood of thy Son our Savior Jesus Christ; and dost assure us thereby of thy favor and goodness towards us; and that we are very members incorporate in the mystical body of thy Son, the blessed company of all faithful people; and are also heirs, through hope, of thy everlasting kingdom. And we humbly
beseech thee, O heavenly Father, so to assist us with thy grace, that we may continue in that holy fellowship, and do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honor and glory, world without end. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer pg. 339)
A Prayer for Communion with Christ
In union, O Lord, with your faithful people at every altar of your Church, where the Holy Eucharist is now being celebrated, we desire to offer to you praise and thanksgiving. We remember your death, Lord Christ; we proclaim your resurrection; we await your coming in glory. And since some of us cannot receive you today in the Sacrament of your Body and Blood, I beseech you to come spiritually into our hearts. Cleanse and strengthen us with your grace, Lord Jesus, and let us never be separated from you. May we live in you, and you in us, in this life and in the life to come. Amen. (Adapted from A Prayer for Communion with Christ, pg. 147 of A Prayer Book for The Armed Services 2008)
In other news, a baptism will be celebrated this Sunday! Due to the in-person attendance restriction, it will be a separate, private service on Sunday afternoon. Please keep Dalton Thomas Floyd, his parents Thomas and Mallory Floyd, and his godparents Raymond Floyd and Morgan Porter in your prayers on Sunday afternoon!
Be assured of my prayers dear ones. Feel free to call me if you need to talk or need a prayer. If you'd like to be added to the list of Sunday attendees for a future Sunday, please let me know. We are trying to give as many people as possible a chance to be back in our beautiful church building. Until then, don't forget to catch us via our Live Stream.
Blessings!
Mother Michelle
priest@stpaulslaporte.org | 219-575-0226
LaPorte County VOCID-19 NEW cases, July 8, 2020
LIVE from St. Paul's - July 5, 2020
News from the Red Doors - July 3, 2020
Remembering Fr. Eyrick
On July 4, 2020, the Rev. B. Linfred Eyrick would have been 100 years old! Fr. Eyrick faithfully served St. Paul's from 1956-1992. In celebration of his legacy at St. Paul's, and his wonderful family, let us pray:
Almighty God, we entrust all who are dear to us to thy never-failing care and love, for this life and the life to come, knowing that thou art doing for them better things than we can desire or pray for; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP pg. 831) And we pray especially for Fr. Eyrick on this July 4th, the celebration of what would have been his 100th birthday. Amen.
This Week at St. Paul's
- Mother Michelle Walker
Dear St. Paul's Family,
LaPorte County NEW COVID-19 cases, July 1, 2020
My heart is full today, just full. Tuesday I was so busy and excited writing to you all with the good news of our ability to regather for in-person worship. I was energized and ready to take on the world. Our usher team had just met for a wonderful (re)training regarding our new guidelines for in-person worship. It was a terrific day. When I arrived home that evening I soon discovered that LaPorte County had 19 new COVID-19 cases on the day. I nearly sat and wept. That number, when added to a couple other days late last week that were a little high, was enough to push us past the "go" into the "no go" status of in-person worship. As I pondered the burden of this news, I was reminded of a portion of our Gospel passage for this coming Sunday.
“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
I thought about that burden (in this case the burden of excitement and communication) and remembered I don't shoulder it alone. My yoke is easy and my burden is light, especially when I share it with the Lord and the wonderful leadership at St. Paul's. It's just one more week ... or maybe several. In the grand scheme it is nothing compared to everyone's health and safety. Breathe. Pray. Rest your soul Mother Michelle!
So, after our grand announcement on Tuesday of regathering for worship this Sunday we are revising it to say that we will still have in-person worship, but for the allowable 10 people only. And should the numbers not improve for a week, or several, we will rotate those 10 people until each of you who desire to attend have been offered the opportunity to do so. This is not forever, it is only for now.
Friends, I implore you keep praying for the health of our parishioners, our county, and our nation. I implore you to think about the challenge I offered in last Sunday's sermon to preach the Gospel at all times, EVEN using words when necessary. And I implore you to invite your friends to our online service. The seeds we plant now might just yield reward in the future that we could never imagine.
Stay healthy, wear your masks, and share the LOVE of Christ.
Blessings!
Mother Michelle
priest@stpaulslaporte.org | 219-575-0226
July 2, 2020 Determination Letter
I am incredibly thankful to the Diocese, and to Canon Terri specifically, for putting together a clear go/no go path forward to all of our faith communities regarding in-person worship. While we at St. Paul’s will not be able to have our previously planned 30 or so attendees this Sunday, we will continue with our 10 in-person attendees and pray for better numbers next week.
- Mother Michelle
One thing have I asked of the LORD; one thing I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life; To behold the fair beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.
Psalm 27:5-6
My Dear Kindred in Christ,
Many of you have put in long hours working out the details of your re-opening plans, training your teams, re-arranging your worship spaces and communicating with your congregations. You will not fail to receive your reward for this loving care you have taken for the people of God. Because I share with you both this labor and this longing to return to in-person worship, it is with a heavy heart that I regard the current and coming surge in COVID-19 cases.
As you know, an important part of the care we are taking for our people is monitoring the number of COVID-19 cases in our counties. Here is their current status:
Those of you who draw your congregation from a cluster of counties will want to consult other situations as well, but the baseline for your decision making should be the situation in the county in which your building is located. The attached spreadsheet provides you with the details supporting your status designation.
We, as a diocesan staff, have made every effort to continue reviewing the ways in which we assess our situation, both according to the information being reported by our health departments and according to the changing reports about factors affecting that reporting. We have also been listening you your concerns about the differences among the situations in your various counties. As a result, you will notice a few differences between this spreadsheet and the model we showed you a few months ago.
First, we are now using a 7-day rather than a 5-day rolling average. As with the 5-day figure, the 7-day average adjusts for the fact that different people will be tested at different stages of illness. The 7-day average further allows us to account for the differing availability of testing throughout any given week.
Second, having heard your concerns about the differences in population density in different counties, we have adopted a population-sensitive severity scale used by the CDC. Different colors designate different saturation rates in the county:
Green: averaging ≤ 1 case/day per 100,000 people
Yellow: averaging 2-10 cases/day per 100,000 people
Orange: averaging 11-25 cases/day per 100,000 people
Red: averaging >25 cases/day per 100,000 people.
We have averaged the number of cases in your county for the past 14 days, compared that number with the population of your county, and assigned your county a corresponding severity color. Faith Communities in counties with an orange or red designation should not gather for in-person worship, even if they have experienced a 14-day decline in cases.
Faith Communities in counties with a yellow designation should be exercising caution. This means not gathering for in-person worship if the county has experienced a 14-day increase in cases. The exception we are making to this is in counties where the population is so small that a single case would show up as 3-4 cases per 100,000 people. In order to adjust for this, we have marked counties remaining below 5 cases/day as both yellow and green, meaning that faith communities should remain watchful with regard to a rising number of cases, but may still gather for in-person worship.
We are issuing this information on Thursday afternoon so that you have time to take appropriate measures before Sunday. What this means, however, is that we will be using, at best, the data from Wednesday. It is therefore your responsibility, as clergy and lay leaders, to continue monitoring the situation on Friday and Saturday and to cancel services if there is a sufficiently large spike in cases as to change the profile for your county. You always can call me at 574-850-5722 in order to consult if you are in doubt.
We realize that this situation will require you to deliver unwelcome news to people who are longing to return to worship in a beloved and comforting setting during troubled times. Know that you are in our prayers, for strength, courage and patience now, for the health and safety of your counties to improve soon and for an ongoing renewal of faith as together we walk the path God has laid before us.
Your sister in Christ,
Terri
The Rev. Canon Terri L. Bays, PhD.
Missioner for Transitions and Governance
Emergency Response NGO/Government Liaison