My Dear People of St. Thomas,
Good morning beloved Doubters! I am writing this from the living room of the Rectory! I hope that you too are safely tucked into your home, heeding the precautions of our civic and government leaders who are urging us to stay put, to the very best of our ability, unless movement is absolutely necessary.
As I have said countless times before, these are challenging times for the Church, because our natural response as the body of Christ, when faced with struggle or strife, is to come together. When we gather, we are reminded that God is with us. We see in each other the face of our God, who we know in our hearts is always with us. And it is a gentle, sweet reminder of that presence.
That is what I miss when I cannot see your faces. I long so deeply to see God in each of you, to hear God’s voice in each of you, to know that God IS still with us. It is so easy in the midst of crisis to doubt, but that is one thing we Doubters do not doubt!
We simply have to find new ways, creative ways, inventive ways, to be the Church, St. Thomas the Apostle, to each other during this trying, anxiety-filled time. I have had Zoom meetings (that’s an on-line platform that I hope to introduce you all to!) with some of our younger folks, and we’ve dreamed about out-of-the-box ways of doing that, of being Church to each other, when we can’t physically get to each other. And your Vestry is going right on with the work of the Church in this virtual realm as well.
Last Sunday, I live-streamed Church “for you” on Facebook Live, and that was a fascinating experience for me. Many people offered to help me do that, to put on a beautiful service for you, but it was important to me that we really live into what our leaders are asking of us, and so I asked everyone to stay home, and I “did” the service myself. I now know what it must feel like to be an actor in a one-person play with no audience! It is exhausting!
And there is a reason for that! Corporate worship is exactly that. It is NOT a solo experience that others watch. We know this. It takes ALL of us to re-member Jesus Christ, week in and week out. I cannot and do not do this in isolation FOR you.
So, we have to do this differently. I will do one more week of the solo thing on Facebook Live, and then I want to try something else. I want us to try a Zoom Church service. In this setting, multiple people can participate from each of their respective locations, and the congregation can respond. We can have up to 100 people on at one time.
I haven’t figured out how we can do Eucharist, but give me time. I might figure that out too.
To accomplish this, I need to have good e-mail addresses and phone numbers of everyone who would like to give this a try with me, so I can invite you into the “meeting!”
If you don’t have a computer with audio and video capability, you can do it on your smartphone as well by downloading the Zoom app from your phone’s app store.
If you need help thinking through this, check in with me via email: christopher@thedoubter.org. Give me your best contact phone number.
Remember, I may get flooded with folks that I need to talk to, so I may need to keep the conversation brief. But I really think this might work. It’s worth a try, right?
I am going to ask YOU to commit to two things. And these are two EXTREMELY important things.
First of all, I NEED you to be checking in on your fellow Doubters, faithfully, each week. PLEASE! I cannot call every single person in the parish. You need to be the body of Christ in this crisis. If it’s through your foyer’s group list, or your Eucharistic Visitors group, or Altar Guild, however you are connected to other Doubters, I URGE you to connect to those people, weekly. PLEASE! It will help you every bit as much as it helps them, and me.
Secondly, your spiritual health through your generosity should go on, as you are able. While we will get some respite from not being in our physical space during these times, most of the expenses of the Church will march right on, and we need to be able to meet those demands. Your generosity through giving will help ensure that the Church will remain on solid footing when we emerge from this crisis, as we surely will!
If you are fluent in the on-line giving process, that is wonderful. Giving may be easily done through our website or our Church database app. If electronic methods are not your strength, offerings may still be received through your bank drafts and mailed checks.
I have every bit of faith and confidence that we can do this! Doubters exude this kind of confidence and strength and steadfast faith. It is in your DNA – it has been all along! As long as we stay together, and pastor each other, and pray with and for each other, and our world, I know we can do this.
And our God of relentless mercy and grace WILL be with us!
Yours faithfully,
Fr. Christopher+
