5th Sunday in Lent: Prayers, Spaghetti & Gardening

March 29, 2020
Dear Hearts
 
In the ongoing effort to adapt to our changing circumstances during the Covid-19 threat, I am going to "try on" a change in this letter.  (Bishops Douglas and Ahrens often encourage us to "try-on" new ways of "joining Jesus" in our neighborhoods; so here's one of mine.)  My thought is that this pre-Sunday message could serve as an on-line version of the announcements that we are used to finding in Sunday's bulletin.  The topics will be listed at or near the top, and then appear in the same order below beginning in bold type.

• Sunday Worship: Thanks, Intercessions, Participants
• Wednesday Evening Prayers
• Thursday Bible Study Resumes on Zoom
• Spaghetti Sauce with Meatballs
• Spring Clean-up

Sunday Worship:  Thanks
Thanks to all of you who gathered online for our 10a.m. worship on Sunday, March 22!  I appreciate that this was an occasion for both worship and learning about the live-streaming technology.  Major thanks to our Music Director Mark Sullivan for setting up and managing the system!  Thanks also to audio-guru Chris Robinson for adjusting our sound system to better support our worship.  We plan to gather again as a worshiping community at 10a.m. on Sunday morning via Facebook Live. 

Sunday Worship:  Intercessions
Let's "try-on" a different way of adding names and concerns to our intercessions.  Please reply to this message with the names and concerns that you would like to add to our Prayers of the People.  I will prepare the prayers on Saturday evening, and then will send the Prayer List to you on Monday to include in your prayers during the coming week.

Sunday Worship: Participants and bulletin
In response to our Bishops' and Governor's admonitions, in-person participation in Sunday's service will be limited to lectors, intercessors music leaders, and oh, yes, clergy.  Instead of picking up a service bulletin on your way into worship, please download the PDF bulletin for Sunday's service; this week's includes the texts of the readings, as well as the lyrics of the hymns. Find a link to it on our website homepage:  www.christchurchguilford.org.

Wednesday Evening Prayers
We are also going to "try-on" a Live-stream evening service of prayer and music on Wednesdays, on April 1 and 8 at 7p.m.,  The service will begin with the Order for Evening and continue with the Great Litany -- which the Prayer Book recommends as a separate devotion during Lent.   Although there will be an online bulletin, this may be the time to take advantage of Church Publishing's offer of a free download of PDF English and Spanish versions of the Book of Common Prayer.  Church Publishing has other resources also available online at no cost.  Check it out here.

Thursday Morning Bible Study will resume this Thursday, April 2, 9:30-10:30a.m. on Zoom.   We will resume our study of Paul's Letter to the Romans, a letter he wrote to a community of Jewish and Gentile followers of Jesus, years before he was brought to Rome under arrest.  There are no prerequisites!  Here's the link to our online conversation: click here:   Participation by telephone is also possible; I'll send the connection number on request. 

Spaghetti Sauce with Meat Balls
Chef Antonio has offered to make his fabulous spaghetti sauce with meat balls for parishioner households!  It will be available in containers for pick-up or delivery on Wednesday, April 1 (No Foolin' !)  No noodles, just the sauce with meatballs.  Unless you have already placed your order with a Vestry Member, please contact Senior Warden Susan Leonard at [email protected] with your name, number of servings and whether you'd like it delivered by parish volunteers (thanks, gang!) to your doorstep, or want to pick it up between 10a.m. and 4p.m. from the Parish Hall kitchen.  First-ordered first-reserved..

Spring Yard Clean-up
Look for a Sign-up Genius message in your inbox for a different sort of clean-up of the Church Yard.   I think we are all looking for ways to be outside while maintaining that crucial physical distance.  Cleaning up around the church building and the parish house provide just such an opportunity.  You/your household will be invited to take-on a particular portion of the yard at a time when you will have the whole yard to yourself.  Although leaf bags will be provided, please bring your own equipment with you.

You can find the Friday letters from our Bishops, +Ian Douglas and +Laura Ahrens, by clicking here, and the Episcopal Church in Connecticut's Covid-19 Resource Page here.    There are all sorts of online services being offered around the diocese, as well as from Washington National Cathedral.  At the Bishops' Wednesday morning Zoom meeting with clergy and wardens,  they talked about services that they will be leading online during Holy Week, but weren't ready to make announcements.  We're being flexible as we develop a schedule for Holy Week with Christ Church. 

And again, if you are sheltering-in-place and need assistance with picking up groceries or prescriptions, please be in touch with the Parish Office.  Fellow parishioners are willing to do the go-fer-ing for you.
.
Be well, say your prayers, and wash your hands,
Harrison+
YFNR
p.s. Reminders for Sunday's online worship:

• You can access the livestream directly at facebook.com/cecguilford. or the parish website christchurchguilford.org
• You may find that using an external speaker or headphones may improve the quality of audio from your device.
• Please remember to adjust both volume settings on your device: 

1. There is the device's volume control, usually accessed via the speaker icon on the lower right corner of your screen;  Be sure that the volume is turned up here.
2. There is another volume control on the Facebook Live image, as well. It's in the control panel at the bottom of the Live image.  The default setting on that control is often mute, indicated by an "x" over the speaker icon.  Be sure to click on the speaker icon to "unmute" the sound, and to turn up the volume here as well.