The Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania has issued new guidance to churches pertaining to the live-streaming of services. As a result, beginning this week Sunday services will be offered via Zoom, the platform we recently used for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services.
The start time of the Sunday service will also be changing to 9:30 a.m.
The benefit of Zoom is that you can see other participants in addition to the person leading the service, and other participants may lead certain parts of the service (readings, prayers, etc) or provide music. Participants may join the service either using their web browser or by downloading the Zoom software to a computer, smartphone or tablet. Those without access to high-speed internet may call in using a cell or landline phone.
Additional details are available here. If you need assistance connecting via Zoom, please let us know and we’ll do our best to help.
Watch our livestreamed Sunday Service from Sunday, April 5th, 2020.
Deacon Dennis Bingham led the service, and both Martha Reynolds from the Arise band, and Phil Lefevre, our organist, were on hand to provide our music.
I have several important updates to share relating to our life and ministry at Saint Matthew’s:
Suspension of Live Worship The Vestry and I met several times over the last few days to consider how long we should suspend our worship services and programmatic activities. We were informed that Bishop Gutierrez, in consultation with his colleagues and the CDC, is asking parishes to suspend in-person worship through at least May 4th. This means that we will continue to gather remotely until further notice. The staff, vestry, and I will continue to meet weekly to stay abreast of the evolving Covid-19 situation. Our team is working to create service and education opportunities on Zoom and Facebook. More information is to follow in a separate communication, but here’s a quick peek at what is to come:
Join Us Tonight Tuesday, 3/24/20, 7:00-9:00 pm. A Prayer and Sharing Gathering of St. Matt’s Open to all. Come as you can, and offer a prayer in this space. To join the Zoom meeting, click this link: https://zoom.us/j/730442245
Continue Giving Where It Counts All of us will be affected financially as a result of this pandemic. We hope each of you can bless us with your tithes and offerings so that we may care for those who work at St. Matts. Though our church campus is not currently open to you, our staff is still hard at work, providing for the St. Matthew’s Community and Nursery School. If you have additional resources and would like to provide for parishioners who are hit hard by this pandemic, you may make a contribution to St. Matthew’s directed toward the Rector’s Discretionary Fund.
Theological Reflections On Sunday, I reflected in my sermon that we are “in a moment that we have never experienced before”. Some of us are afraid. Others fear the economic shortfall. I charge each of you to keep the faith during this time. Below I include a few scripture readings for your study at home, as well as a hymn. Find comfort in them, and perhaps meditate and memorize them if you’d like. This wisdom affirms that all our hope on God is founded.
Romans 8: 18-27 and 31-39. This passage puts into perspective the God who is actively engaged in our time of suffering and who sees the end of the story, which we cannot see.
Psalm 23. This timeless Psalm speaks of the Good Shepherd who is with us in every season and moment of our lives, seeing to our physical needs of food and water, protecting and carrying us in the valley of the shadow of death, providing a feast for us, and offering a place of dwelling with him forever.
“Amazing Grace How Sweet the Sound.” is a hymn and offers incredible hope for us in these moments, which we can not understand or anticipate. Our hope in God enables us to see that our life is fully assured in him.
I am here for each of you, and my “remote door” is always open. May the peace of Christ be with each of you always.
While we are all saddened by our inability to gather as a community within our sanctuary to worship, that does not mean that we cannot worship together! St. Matthew’s will livestream a service at 10:00 a.m. Sunday, March 22, on Facebook (see instructions below).You do not need a Facebook account to view this service. Father Peter will preach, and both Martha Reynolds from the Arise band, and Phil Lefevre, our organist, will be on hand to provide our music. Please join us!
Do you want to worship online this morning but don’t have a Facebook account? Never fear! Follow these steps and you will be able to view the feed Sunday morning.
Step 2: Once you are there, ignore any boxes that urge you to log in or sign up. If you have the option to close such a box by clicking “Not Now,” go ahead and do that.
Step 3: Scroll down the page, past the information-sharing sections (photos, videos, etc.) to the “Posts” section.
Step 4: The live video will appear in the “Posts” section. NOTE: If you arrive there before the live feed has started, you may have to refresh your browser once the video has begun.
Step 5: If you don’t hear any audio, click on the “horn” in the video post to turn the sound on.
Step 6: Click on the video in the post (where the image is) to watch the live video in a larger window.
We celebrated our first streamed service today, Noonday Prayer!
Children, Youth, and Families Our Youth Ministry Coordinator is working on establishing remote education and fellowship opportunities for Saint Matthew’s families. He and his team will be planning weekly storytelling, crafting, and prayer sessions for children and youth, as well as a discussion forum for adults, via Facebook and Zoom. Updates on how to join these groups will be posted very soon. If you are interested in joining the team working on this, reach-out to Anthony (anthony@santmattsec.org)
Morning Prayer – Thursday @ 9 a.m. Tomorrow at 9:00 Morning Prayer is being offered, this time on Zoom so that you will be able to see each other and interact. Click on the following link and follow the directions that come up on your computer and you should be able to be seen and heard as well as see and hear the service. There is also a phone number you can call for sound only. The link is:
One tap mobile: +19292056099, 166239168# US (New York)
Lenten Studies – Thursday @ 4 p.m. Tomorrow at 4:00 pm, I will offer another of the Lenten Studies, this time on Zoom. If you plan to participate let me know and I will forward the study materials to you. It will last about an hour and be fully interactive.
Men’s Bible Study – Saturday @ 8 a.m. Men’s Bible Study will also be on Zoom on Saturday at 8:00 a.m. for any who want to attend. We will discuss a relevant text or more on the faithfulness of God to God’s people in moments like these.
I include a brief reflection on St. Patrick and his most famous hymn below for your reflection. The hymn number is 370 if you feel like singing. I am including the more literal text than the one that appears in the Hymnal. It seems more poetic.
My staff and I met this morning via Zoom to figure out ways to invite us all together in community during this time of Pandemic.
Sunday we will be livestreaming the Eucharist on Facebook at 10:00 am with music, homily and prayers for you all. We will email instructions on Saturday. You do not need a Facebook account to participate.
Tomorrow (Wednesday) at noon we will be offering Noonday Prayer at 12:00 also by streaming on Facebook. You’ll be able to join us by visiting the parish Facebook page. If you need instructions, please email Joe Buesgen.
Thursday, Morning Prayer will be offered at 9:00 via Zoom. If you would like to attend, contact Karen Sawyer so she can send information about how to get on to the site.
I want to continue to offer the Lenten Study on Zoom. If you want to be part of this let me know and I will send you the link with instruction about how to use it.
THE LORICA, OR, ST. PATRICK’S BREASTPLATE (As translated by Kuno Meyer)
I arise today Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, Through belief in the threeness, Through confession of the oneness Of the Creator of Creation. I arise today Through the strength of Christ’s birth with His baptism, Through the strength of His crucifixion with His burial, Through the strength of His resurrection with His ascension, Through the strength of His descent for the judgement of Doom. I arise today Through the strength of the love of the Cherubim, In the obedience of angels, In the service of archangels, In the hope of the resurrection to meet with reward, In the prayers of patriarchs, In prediction of prophets, In preaching of apostles, In faith of confessors, In innocence of holy virgins, In deeds of righteous men. I arise today Through the strength of heaven; Light of sun, Radiance of moon, Splendour of fire, Speed of lightning, Swiftness of wind, Depth of sea, Stability of earth, Firmness of rock. I arise today Through God’s strength to pilot me: God’s might to uphold me, God’s wisdom to guide me, God’s eye to look before me, God’s ear to hear me, God’s word to speak to me, God’s hand to guard me, God’s way to lie before me, God’s shield to protect me, God’s host to save me, From snares of devils, From temptation of vices, From every one who shall wish me ill, Afar and anear, Alone and in a multitude. I summon today all these powers between me and those evils, Against every cruel merciless power that may oppose my body and soul, Against incantations of false prophets, Against black laws of pagandom, Against false laws of heretics, Against craft of idolatry, Against spells of women and smiths and wizards, Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul. Christ to shield me today Against poising, against burning, Against drowning, against wounding, So there come to me abundance of reward. Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of every one who speaks of me, Christ in the eye of every one who sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me. I arise today Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity, Through belief in the threeness, Through confession of the oneness Of the Creator of Creation.
About St. Patrick:
Patrick was born about 390, in southwest Britain, somewhere between the Severn and the Clyde rivers, son of a deacon and grandson of a priest. When about sixteen years old, he was kidnapped by Irish pirates and sold into slavery in Ireland. Until this time, he had, by his own account, cared nothing for God, but now he turned to God for help. After six years, he either escaped or was freed, made his way to a port 200 miles away, and there persuaded some sailors to take him onto their ship. He returned to his family much changed, and began to prepare for the priesthood, and to study the Bible.
Around 435, Patrick was commissioned, perhaps by bishops in Gaul and perhaps by the Pope, to go to Ireland as a bishop and missionary. Four years earlier another bishop, Palladius, had gone to Ireland to preach, but he was no longer there (my sources disagree on whether he had died, or had become discouraged and left Ireland to preach in Scotland). Patrick made his headquarters at Armagh in the North, where he built a school, and had the protection of the local monarch. From this base he made extensive missionary journeys, with considerable success. To say that he single-handedly turned Ireland from a pagan to a Christian country is an exaggeration, but is not far from the truth.
Almost everything we know about him comes from his own writings, available in English in the Ancient Christian Writers series. He has left us an autobiography (called the Confessio), a Letter to Coroticus in which he denounces the slave trade and rebukes the British chieftain Coroticus for taking part in it, and the Lorica (or “Breastplate” a poem of disputed authorship traditionally attributed to Patrick), a work that has been called “part prayer, part anthem, and part incantation.” The Lorica is a truly magnificent hymn, found today in many hymnals (usually abridged by the omission of the two stanzas bracketed below). The translation into English as given here is by Cecil Frances Alexander, whose husband was Archbishop of Armagh, and thus the direct successor of Patrick. She published nearly 400 poems and hymns of her own, including the well-known “There is a green hill far away,” “Once in royal David’s city,” “Jesus calls us; o’er the tumult,” and “All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small.” (Source)
Yesterday was the is the first time in 40 years of ministry that I have cancelled Sunday services. But we have not seen a moment like this in my lifetime. It is clear that this is the appropriate response to protect you our people, particularly those most at risk.
We your staff are working remotely this week as recommended by Governor and Bishop and CDC. Tomorrow, the staff and I will meet via Zoom to plan how best to maintain our community life. We will arrange to stream next Sunday’s service a 10:00am. We are also considering setting up video conferencing for the remaining Lenten Studies and a midweek service at noon on Wednesday. This will be done using Zoom. We will send more information on how to use it tomorrow.
Here are some useful websites to assist you in personal and family prayers and to give you up- to-the-date response to Covid-19 from our Bishop and National Church. The National Church site also offers excellent devotional videos.
Mission Saint Clare provides a free subscription for all of the daily prayer services we Episcopalians call the Daily Office. This includes Morning Prayer, Noonday Prayer, Evening Prayer and Compline. It also includes hymns and some sung canticles. I use it for daily Morning Prayer. But if other times of the day work better for you and your family there are good options. https://www.missionstclare.com/english/
This website from our National Church office provides devotions, Lenten Studies, and other great studies to enhance family devotion. It also contains up to the moment information of Covid-19 and how to respond. https://episcopalchurch.org/
The Diocese of Pennsylvania has a section on the Covid-19 virus and steps we are taking throughout the diocese. This includes regular pastoral letters from our bishop. www.diopa.org
You may call me any time at 610-304-2539. I and my staff will be reaching out to you by phone in the days ahead.
