Moving On at St. Paul’s

As pandemic related restrictions are lifted we still have a responsibility to act cautiously and keeping a variety of competing concerns in balance. Therefore we have come up with the following plan.
 
Contact Tracing and Sanitizing
Contact tracing maybe an important element for dealing with a Covid-19 outbreak associated with an event at the church, therefore contact information will be given to the parish or organizer of the event. We will sanitize the church-building before Sunday mornings and events. There will be hand sanitizer readily available to everyone.
 
Worship

• Rapid Tests will be available to staff and volunteers.
• Pews will be assigned.
• We will limit socializing before and after worship, and during the Passing of the Peace.
• Both bread and wine will be used in the Prayer of Consecration. Both bread and wine can be administered to the congregation following relevant safe food handling guidelines of PEI.
• The presider and assistants will wear masks and gloves while administering communion.
• There will be a no-touching Passing of the Peace.
• Congregational singing is permitted, with masks.
• We will make the best use of our space.
• The offering plate will be near the entrance of the church and we will promote “Pre-Authorized Remittance.”
• Prayer and hymn books and Bibles can be returned to the pews.
• The Ushers and Sanitizing Team will continue their ministry.
• The Choir members will wear masks when singing and maintain a 6-foot distance from others.

 
As Of
As of February 17, most of our Operational Plan remained in place. We agreed that a comfortable non-pandemic capacity in the church-building is 100-people.

As of March 17, the masking and distancing between bubbles continues. 100-people remained our maximum. We pre-registered. Holy Communion can be administered in both kinds, using individual communion cups for the wine (starting Maundy Thursday, April 14).
 
And Onward
PEI’s Step 3 is estimated to begin April 7: masking requirements gathering limits will end. However, St. Paul’s will continue to require masks and distancing. We will leave our limit at 100-people.

               Bishop Sandra Fyfe, writes in her recommendations that, “Just because Public Health restrictions are lifting does not mean we have to remove all protocols we have put in place at one time, or even at all.”

               Fyfe says, “In general, parishes are free to make their own decisions about whether to lift most restrictions (with a few exceptions).” The “Diocese is not prepared to lift the restriction on the use of the Common Cup.”

               She recommends that we lift the restrictions, “in stages, to allow… parishioners time to adjust and adapt.”

               She strongly encourages parishes to maintain some distancing during processions and to allow spaces in church buildings to accommodate those who would prefer to continue with some degree of distancing while seated. Especially while at the communion rail some degree of distancing between people should be observed.

               She says that while our provincial governments are lifting the requirement to wear masks in most public spaces, they continue to strongly recommend that they be worn. She “strongly recommend that parishes continue to require the wearing of masks in church buildings, to be removed when individuals are in a speaking/leadership role or to receive communion, or when eating while seated, but not while singing.”

               She recommends that we “continue to make hand sanitizer available at entry and exit points and expect presiders and those assisting with communion to sanitize their hands regularly.”

               And that while, “Public Health restrictions don’t specifically address the shaking of hands, it is advisable that we continue to extend the Peace in ways that do not encourage handshakes at this time.”
 
               Therefore we will:

• Even though people will no longer need to preregister to attend worship services we continue to do so to help the ushers create space between bubbles.
• The choir continues to mask and distance.
• We start using more scripture readings, lift the restriction of short sermons and consider singing parts of the service.
• We do not start coffee hour yet, but as soon as we can we have lemonade on the lawn and maintain that as long as we can into the fall.
  
• We leave the offering plate near the entrance of the church-building.
• We continue to use the screens at 8 (for now), and project the whole service (not just the hymns) at 10 (for now).

 
 
Full Document HERE
 
 

All Around the Circle

 
I’m not alone in saying that I have been all around the circle, in the sense that I have been to “Fogo, Twillingate, Moreton’s Harbour”, the places named in the Newfoundland folk song, I’se the B’y.
 
I had an uncle who sold medical supplies to hospitals, clinics and doctor’s offices all along that coast. I sometimes traveled with him. When he was inside the building delivering supplies, I was relegated to the back seat, where I was to stay. I was sternly warned not to go looking for trouble.
 
I wasn’t the sort of kid who got into much trouble and I certainly didn’t go looking for it. If I did get into trouble I was pretty sure that it was trouble that came looking for me. I am quite sure that if I hadn’t been relegated to the back seat that day, I would have alluded trouble all together.
 
I wanted desperately to walk over to the wharf and look into the fishing boats or make my way down to the beach where I could further hone my skills as a world class rock skipper.
 
Trouble found me in the form of an older boy banging on the window of the car, already well into an argument with me that was I was oblivious to. As near as I could make out at first, I had offended his sensibility  and that had caused him to question my parent’s marital status.

I’m not one who’s easily offended so I was willing to hear him out, at least until I could ascertain what troubled him so.
 
Apparently, we were parked in his parking spot. I don’t think there was accessible parking spots back then—so, that wasn’t the issue. We were not near any delivery door. In fact we were about as far from the building as we could get, plus there were many other parking spaces available.
 
My uncle had left the keys in the ignition, so I’d have the radio to keep me company and out of trouble. I assured my assailant that I was too young to drive and that I wouldn’t unlock the doors so he could park the car properly and out of everyone’s bleeping way. I was pretty sure letting him drive the car was exactly the kind of trouble my uncle wanted me to stay out of.
 
Despite his threats and besmirching my parent’s good reputation, and now specifically my mother—I held my ground. Safely locked inside of the car that, as far as I was concerned, was going to remain parked until my uncle reappeared.
 
It was then that I heard my uncle’s voice, sounding a lot like a Newfoundland version of Foghorn Leghorn, “What seems to be the problem, boy!”
 
My assailant turned and saw my uncle, a large man, walking confidently towards him. “Nothing Sir…” And the boy seemed to quickly disappear.
 
My uncle got in the car turned the ignition and started to drive to the next location. He looked in the rear view mirror at me and said, “What did I tell you about looking for trouble?”
 
I said nothing, I knew he was joking. I knew he knew that I wasn’t looking for trouble, trouble found me.

Whether trouble finds us or we go looking for it the parable of the Prodigal Son reminds us of God’s forgiveness – all around the circle. All day, every day.

A Comfortable Distance

Pierre Burton wrote “The Comfortable Pew,” an exploration of how comfortable mainstream Christianity had become in Canada. The joke at the time was that anyone who ever referred to an Anglican church pew as comfortable, never sat in one.

Perhaps some of Burton’s criticism was accurate, but now we turn our attention to a different kind of comfort—not a comfortable complacency or a well engineered chair. The question that haunts the places of worship across our country (and around the world) is: what’s a comfortable distance between worshippers of different households. How close are we willing to get to one another as emergency healthcare measures are eased and Covid-19 cases remain high?

This challenge is not helped by the fact that what’s “comfortable” for one person will not be the same for the person next to them, or near to them.

I doubt that, at this point, the Parish Council will be able to develop a policy that will be agreed to by everyone. All we can do, I think, is to come up with something that seems reasonable and satisfies the concerns of most people. Hopefully,  we will get to a point where the need for social distancing will no longer be such a major concern.

This will be one of the topics up for consideration at the Parish Council meeting on Tuesday. Currently, we are using the number 200 as our maximum for the space available in the church-building. 50% capacity is 100-people. But many of us have said that even then it will seem like a lot of people in a small space.

Part of the humour in the whole question is that there have not been many times in recent years when we’ve exceeded 100 people at any one time in the building. September, October, Christmas Eve and Easter are the times when we would normally expect to exceed 100 people in attendance. Much of the time capacity limits are a moot point.

Obviously,  we can continue to assign seats (or pews), thus utilizing our space in a way that allows for greater social distancing. And if there are times when someone is uncomfortable there is no shame in leaving the building. I know, that’s easier said than done.

Throughout it all and as we continue to navigate the easing of restrictions we need to be aware that the people around us may need more space and that’s okay!

An additional question regards the return to administering communion in both kinds, the bread and the wine, the body and the blood. The use of the individual communion cups will continue and we had hoped to begin this practice on March 20. However, we are delaying this, principally because of the need to retrain ourselves. It is not complicated but it does take some getting used to.

Patience is a virtue, they say, and a much needed quality as we navigate our way through this storm. 

Like a Mother Hen #BreakTheBias

One of the most intriguing images in scripture is found in today’s Gospel lesson, Luke 13:31-35. “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings…”

Like a mother hen—Jesus likens himself to a mother hen. I love that image because we are so used to masculine images that we might think that God is male.

Scripture doesn’t shy away from all sorts of images and ideas about God. God is shepherd, potter, and bread. God is breath and spirit. God is a teacher and a rock. God is light, Alpha and Omega, and a vine. God is a shield, a fortress, and a sun. God is fire and wind. God is an artist and a judge, a path and an immovable mountain. God is a companion and God carries me. God is a father and a mother hen.

I like all of these images for God. They speak to me in different ways and have had a great impact on my life over the years. Rather than being limited to images and ideas that other people find helpful, God has choose to be revealed to us in many different ways so that those images will speak to us in different ways, at different times.

Sometimes we need the comfort of a mother hen and sometimes a judge or an immovable mountain. Sometimes we need the rest found in a gentle breeze and it’s a clear path that helps the most. Either way, the Church shouldn’t limit our use of metaphors, similes and images for God. And, of course we shouldn’t limit our use either. By using masculine and feminine images for God, as well as other ones, we deepen our understanding of God and the potential of human beings.

This past week was International Women’s Day. A day when we are asked to imagine a gender equal world, a world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination. A world that is diverse, equitable and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated.

Maybe this is the new creation promised by God: promised to Abraham, Sarah and their descendants (us). The new creation is one where the gender bias we were taught are broken. International Women’s Day is in part about celebrating the achievements of women but it is also about making the world better for everyone.

Let’s not let our bias limit the human potential promised by God’s new creation.