Getting Ready for OnLine Worship

March 19, 2020
Dear Hearts,
 
We plan to be on Facebook Live this Sunday morning for the 10a.m. service.  To get ready, there will be a brief test with the Daily Devotion at Noon on Friday, March 20, at yes, 12 noon.

• To get ready, please be sure that you are 'following' Christ Church, Guilford, CT on Facebook.
• If you're not currently on Facebook, you can create your own page at Facebook.com for this purpose alone.  You don't have to provide any detailed personal information; you don't have to use it for any other purpose. Just search for "Christ Church, Guilford, CT" and 'follow' it.  As an immediate reward, you will find that Donna LaFata is posting the Daily Grace posts from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry.  I commend those to you.
• "Following" Christ Church should put our posts and services on your page automatically;  when offered, choose the option to put our Christ Church page at the top of your "newsfeed."  Facebook will  suggest other pages to you.  You're under no obligation to follow those suggestions.

With these preparations made, we can gather online as a worshiping communion starting at noon on Friday, and at 10a.m. on Sunday.   In case you miss those times, the videos will be available on the Christ Church Facebook page following the livestream.

Will videos of our Sunday services, or portions of them be available on YouTube?  Yes, but not until Monday.  You will be able to access them  via our parish website:  www.christchurchguilford.org.

We will be preparing a bulletin for Sunday's service that you can follow at home on-line or to print out.  The bulletin will come with my next e-letter to you on Saturday.  Our Bishops, +Ian Douglas and +Laura Ahrens, will be sending out what is becoming their weekly letter on Friday, and I'll also include a link to that and how we might respond.

Can you come to the church building for Sunday's service?  I don't recommend it.  We were five at the 8a.m., and 23 at the 10a.m. service on Sunday, March 15.  And we were dispersed widely throughout the worship space.  I'm not going to lock the doors on Sunday, but I recommend that you worship with us from home:  I  especially urge those in households with members who have compromised immune systems or who are otherwise at elevated risk to worship with us at home.
 
As you can tell from the calendar panel, all of our in-person gatherings remain suspended or postponed.

Tyler Jarvis, our Director for Children & Youth Ministries, sent a terrific message to our Sunday School and youth families including the popular "Sunday Paper."  It's too good to keep it to the children alone.  I'll be forwarding it to the whole parish.

Feel free to continue dropping off your filled zip-lock bags for our ECW's Lenten Service Project in the Rectory.  A collection bag is available inside the driveway door whenever the porch light is on.

Copies of  Bishop Barbara Harris's memoir, Hallelujah, Anyhow! are available in the Rectory entry hall for $15, and on Kindle for $10.69.  Whether or not you've participated in our Lenten conversations about Bishop Harris' life and witness as an African-American and as the first woman to be ordained a bishop in the Anglican Communion, I commend to you the series of interviews with her available on YouTube.  Start with this one by clicking here:
Lent Madness is a light-hearted, yet inspiring, daily Lenten practice.  You can follow it online by going to LentMadness.org.   If you subscribe, you will receive it Monday-Friday in your inbox.  If you vote each day, you will also get to help decide who will "win" the Golden Halo for Lent this year.
 
If you don't have a Prayer Book at home, this would be a good time to become acquainted with BCPonline.org.  If you click on The Daily Office, and then Dailly Devlotions for Individuals and Families, you will find brief, one-page devotions for "In the Morning," "At Noon," "In the Early Evening," and "At the Close of the Day."  I'm especially fond of the one for the morning which closes with this Collect:
 
Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father,
you have brought us in safety to this new day: 
Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin,
nor be overcome by adversity;
and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.
.
Take care, say your prayers, and wash your hands,
Harrison+
YFNR
p.s. a correction:  Bishop Chane was with us in May 2011.