Dear Friends,
Two years ago this weekend, our bishop, the committee guiding him on pandemic safety and the governor urged us all to close our buildings, stay home and avoid gatherings. Many of us avoided shopping in order not to be infected by the emerging virus called coronavirus. It had spread through long-term care facilities in the northwest of the United States and cases had emerged and spread quickly in cities on the East Coast. New York City was besieged with cases nearly too numerous for their vast hospitals and mortuaries to handle.
Places of worship were alarmed when in March of 2020, a church choir in Washington state had gathered for rehearsal in a church and town in which no cases had been recorded. Just to be safe, they required the use of hand sanitizer and avoided hugging and shaking hands. That one rehearsal became a super-spreader in which two choir members died and 45 became infected.
St. Paul’s shifted immediately the second Sunday in March to closing the building for services. Soon, we began offering Morning Prayer on Facebook Live from my dining room. We moved the keyboard into my house and Randy Day came to play and sing from the next room. We experimented with Facebook Live and Zoom for an online offering of “Spiritual Eucharist” and discovered that the two digital platforms were not compatible enough to make a smooth-running sustained online worship experience. But we bought the latest iPhone with a grant from our diocese and have committed ourselves to live streaming to this day.
Early on, as nursing homes closed, we learned how to bring prayers digitally to the bedside of a dying loved one. Family members from across the country joined Zoom to say prayers at the time of death. We will never forget that these two years have been challenging, frightening, exhausting and sometimes exhilarating. Our ministry mettle has been tested and we’re emerging strong in faith and generosity, having adapted with grace, courage and innovation. We’ve walked this path of pandemic as a community believing in the love God has for us and our neighbors. Maybe I’ve used the word “resilient” too often to describe us. But we are a resilient, flexible faith community that is strengthened, renewed and even joyful as we’ve moved forward from this pandemic.
Maybe the phrase “moved forward” is pre-mature. Maybe “moving forward” is more accurate. No one knows if this last surge was the final gasp of COVID. The good news is that cases in Maine are down. Our greater Brunswick community has a very high percentage of vaccinated people. Wearing masks, distancing, ventilation and modifying Eucharist to be taken in our seats all have helped prevent infections as we’ve opened up for in-person worship.  And now, we are offering a change in the Guidelines for St. Paul’s which are included in this email.
I give thanks to God for your grace and spirit as the adapting has been a “heavy lift” for you, our clergy, our staff and our leadership.
Thank you all.
Your friend in Christ,
Carolyn +