[Magdalen] Diocese decisions: "re-gathering"

[cady soukup]

Dear ones,

By virtue of being on the Culpeper Region, I have become a member of
the Diocese of Virginia Elected and Appointed Leaders group. We have
been directed to a documents to read regarding various recommendations
for re-opening after a shut down, from the USA Centers for Disease
Control (with a section devoted to communities of faith), to the
Wisconsin Council of Churches, to a joint document created by the
Bishops of the Maryland, Washington, DC, and Virginia Episcopal
Dioceses, to Virginia Governor Northam's phase one business sector
guidelines.

The national Episcopal church, in the person of Presiding Bishop
Michael Curry, has emphasized that we adhere to sensible guidelines in
the name of love for each other. I have found his sermons and guidance
to be joyful and heart-warming.

Virginia is to move to phase one re-opening tomorrow, except for
northern Virginia where the infection rate is not diminishing. As the
register of our medium-sized country church (we are in the top 3 of
the 10 churches in our region, which range in attendance from about 10
people on Sundays to a high of over 200 people), we have vestry
members who want to start attending church again so they can partake
of the eucharistic feast.

We have found in the Diocese of Virginia that virtual worship services
(Facebook, Youtube, Zoom) are reaching a far larger group of people
than physically attend church. The virtual worship services for our
church, Trinity in little Washington, VA has attendees from FL, NC, CO
- most of whom are one-time members who have moved away, but some of
whom are unknown. Attendance has gone from roughly 80 people per
Sunday to many more than that. The diocese is reluctant to give up
this wonderful evangelical moment for in-person church services!

Bishop Susan Goff warns us that our "re-gathering" together will be
messy, must be deliberate and thoughtful, and will be approved
church-by-church after churches provide their plans (under guidance by
the diocese). The diocese is in the
figuring-out-the-guidelines-for-phased-plans stage, which should take
some time given the widely varied nature of our churches (from
historic mountain missions to even older urban congregations).

What are your churches doing? How do you envision moving forward?

Pondering, learning, praying,

Cady
typing this in 'suburban' Boston, VA where the deer outnumber the people