For God alone my soul in silence waits: from God comes my salvation. – Psalm 62, v.1
My dear Doubters of Great Faith,
Every time this piece of psalmody comes up in my observance of Morning Prayer, my daily ritual, I am always grateful, because it always seems to be so timely, so well-placed. There always seems to be some reason, something upon which my soul is contemplating and anticipating (and longing and hungering for) some mighty act of our great and glorious God.
The time in which I find myself typically praying for “patience,” is usually the time that I want God to sweep in on chariots of thunder and righteousness, and make God’s way known, clearly! I know that God identifies with the plight of the suffering, and the downtrodden, and the disaffected, and the weak. Why, last week’s lectionary Gospel, the Beatitudes, tells us to go be with those very people! We are to be God’s hands and feet in our corner of Creation.
And what of these times when WE are those suffering, downtrodden, disaffected, and weak?
The very community that we would turn to, each other, to find strains of God-light, we cannot, for the queerest of reasons, breath. Something taken hold of God’s very nature, Holy Spirit inspiration, would work to keep us, the community of God, apart.
However, we will not let that virus win. We will not let that virus keep us from doing the grief work (and all the other work of God) that we want so desperately to do together as this community of faith called St. Thomas the Apostle.
Beginning next week, we will offer an in-person, indoor service of Holy Eucharist following all of the plans and precautions that your Regathering Committee has studied and put into place. This will be a mid-week (Wednesday) noon Eucharist service conducted in the Parish Hall, where all social-distancing and proper ventilation can be implemented. Attendees will need to register in advance by an e-mail to Parish Secretary Pam Liles (pam@thedoubter.org) prior to Wednesday, so that proper spacing and other adjustments can be provided. Attendees must remain masked throughout the service. The service will be a spoken (no singing) mass.
If you have any preexisting conditions or your health is compromised, you are strongly urged not to participate in this offering. And if you are presenting any symptoms (even if they have not been specifically COVID-19 identified), please err on the side of caution and do not participate. The Sunday Zoom church offering remains our primary gathering of the community body, and I encourage everyone’s ongoing attendance and support of that service.
As always, what we are able to offer depends on the rules and regulations set forth by the Diocese of Dallas and Bishop Sumner, as well as the science behind the positivity rate in Dallas County. And so, this offering may have to be revoked as we move into the winter months.
There is so much upon which we now await – the results of a very contentious, divisive election, a vaccine for the scourge of COVID-19, economic relief, an end to racial division and strife. We long for some way to be able to wait and watch and witness God together.
This may be one small way to do that.
Yours in anticipation,
Fr. Christopher+
