The Supplication

Prayers for use as a separate devotion; especially in times of war, or of national anxiety, or of
disaster...

O Lord, arise, help us;
And deliver us for thy Name's sake.

O God, we have heard with our ears, and our fathers & mothers have
declared unto us, the noble works that thou didst in their days, and in the old time before them.

O Lord, arise, help us;
and deliver us for thy Name's sake.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

O Lord, arise, help us; and deliver us for thy Name's sake.
V. From our enemies defend us, O Christ;
R. Graciously behold our afflictions.
V. With pity behold the sorrows of our hearts;
R. Mercifully forgive the sins of thy people.
V. Favorably with mercy hear our prayers;
R. O Son of David, have mercy upon us.
V. Both now and ever vouchsafe to hear us, O Christ;
R. Graciously hear us, O Christ; graciously hear us, O Lord Christ.

Let us pray.

We humbly beseech thee, O Father, mercifully to look upon our infirmities; and, for the glory of thy Name, turn from us all those evils that we most justly have deserved; and grant that in all our troubles we may put our whole trust and confidence in thy mercy, and evermore serve thee in holiness and pureness of living, to thy honor and glory; through our only Mediator and Advocate, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

BCP p. 154-155

Praying Together

Our world seems to get more chaotic by the day. The news has been full of developments concerning the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). What are we to do as people of faith?

Of course, we can take care of ourselves and our communities following the guidance of medical professionals and government leaders. That goes without saying. But beyond that, we can pray. We can pray for wisdom, knowledge, strength, courage, and comfort. We can pray for ourselves, the sick, medical providers, government leaders, and others. We can pray.

Some churches are now under orders to avoid in-person gatherings of any kind. It is possible the ban on public gatherings will widen. Even if we cannot gather with our church community, we can pray with our church. We can pray together online. We can pray at the same time. We can pray knowing that somewhere in the world, others are saying the same prayers we are. We can pray knowing that we are always joined in prayer with the company of heaven. When we pray, we are never alone.

Forward Movement has several free resources to help you pray. You might like to pray the daily office--morning prayer, noonday prayer, evening prayer, or compline--which you can find on our Daily Prayer website. All you need to do is visit the site, and your computer or phone will serve up the correct prayers and readings for your time of day. If you're in a hurry, you can try the daily devotions for individuals and families, which only take a few seconds to pray. They're online also.

Of course, you can also find these prayers in The Book of Common Prayer. Morning Prayer starts at page 37, and the daily devotions for individuals and families begin at page 136.

Perhaps you'd like to listen to the prayers. We offer a daily podcast of morning prayer--A Morning at the Office, which you can find on your favorite podcast platforms. You can also just point your browser to the podcast's page and listen from there.

By the way, Forward Day by Day is also available as a podcast, and we post the reflections every day on our website.

We hope these free resources will be helpful in this difficult time and always. For now, I invite you to join me in prayer.

O God of peace, who hast taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and confidence shall be our strength: By the might of thy Spirit lift us, we pray thee, to thy presence, where we may be still and know that thou art God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Yours faithfully, (Rev.) Scott Gunn, Executive Director of Forward Movement

Presiding Bishop Curry: Statement on coronavirus

From our Presiding Bishop:

In this time when we are all affected by the coronavirus, whether directly or indirectly, whether physically, biologically, psychologically, spiritually, and for many economically, it may be helpful to remember that we're in this together.

Jesus came among us in the first place, to show us the way to be right and reconcile with the God who is the creator of us all, and right and reconciled with each other as children of this one god who has created us all, and therefore as sisters, brothers, and siblings, one of another.

Jesus came to show us how to be in a relationship with God and in relationship with each other, came to show us how to live not simply as collections of individual self-interest, but how to live as the human family of God. That's why he said love the Lord your God, love your neighbor as yourself. Because in that is hope for all of us to be the human family of God.

I was in Cuba the last few days with Bishop Griselda and the good people of the diocese there as we received and welcomed them as a full part of The Episcopal Church. A while back when she spoke to the last diocesan synod before they became part of The Episcopal Church, she said, and I quote, “The reason we must become part of The Episcopal Church is so that we can be part of a big family.” She spoke by prophecy. We are all part of a big family. Bigger than our biological families, bigger than our immediate families, bigger than our congregations, bigger than our dioceses, bigger than our cities, our states, our nation.

We are part of the human family of God. Jesus came to show us that his way of love is the way of life. It’s God’s human family.

We are in a time when remembering that may be important for all of us.

We are in this together.

What affects some directly affects all indirectly.

We are part of a family. The human family of God.

Just over the weekend the head of the World Health Organization, said this, and I quote, “We have seen this coming for years. Now is the time to act. This is not a drill. This epidemic can be pushed back, but only with collective, coordinated, and comprehensive approach by us all.”

It takes us all. We are family.

And then one of the spokespersons for the European Union, speaking to the member states said this, and I paraphrase: We must share our resources and our information. It is not the possession of any one nation.

In each of those calls, and in the calls of many of our leaders, we have heard again and again, that we are in this together, we can walk through this together, and we will find our way in our life together.

So look out for your neighbors, look out for each other. Look out for yourselves. Listen to those who have knowledge that can help to guide us medically and help to guide us socially. Do everything that we can to do this together, to respond to each other's needs and to respond to our own needs.

Walk together children, don't get weary, because there’s a great camp meeting in the promised land.

Allow me to close with this prayer found on the website of Episcopal Relief & Development, where there are resources and where information can be found.

God of the present moment,
God who in Jesus stills the storm
and soothes the frantic heart;
bring hope and courage to all
who wait or work in uncertainty.

Bring hope that you will make them the equal
of whatever lies ahead.

Bring them courage to endure what cannot be avoided,
for your will is health and wholeness;
you are God, and we need you.

This we pray in Christ our Lord. Amen.
God love you. God bless you. May God hold us all in those almighty hands of love.

Resources and information available here.

Faith-Based Response to Epidemics from Episcopal Relief & Development
An epidemic is a large-scale outbreak of an infectious disease, such as influenza or coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

ROLE OF CHURCHES, DIOCESES AND COMPASSIONATE CHRISTIANS

• Combat fear with knowledge in order to encourage preparedness and decrease stigma.
• Maintain operational continuity and continue worship life in the case of potential quarantine and disruption.
• Show God’s compassion and care to those in our communities who are affected.

These are general guidelines; decisions should be made in collaboration with Church leadership and health authorities, based on local practices and safety concerns.

ECCT Coronavirus Update #1

March 6, 2020
It is well documented that COVID-19 is transmitted from person to person through the spread of respiratory droplets originating from an affected person’s mouth or nose. See the Center for Disease Control information on “How COVID-19 Spreads.” Significant precautions thus need to be taken to limit the spread of respiratory droplets. This has a direct bearing on our liturgical practices, especially the sharing of the common cup.

The Rubrics of the Book of Common Prayer note that: “Opportunity is always to be given to every communicate to receive the consecrated Bread and Wine separately.” (BCP p. 407) At the same time the Canons of the Episcopal Church state: “The Rector or Priest-in-Charge shall have full authority and responsibility for the conduct of the worship and spiritual jurisdiction of the Parish, subject to the Rubrics of the Book of Common Prayer, the Constitution and Canons of this Church, and the pastoral direction of the bishop.” Canon III.9.6(a)(1) As your bishops we believe that the following liturgical pastoral direction is in order to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, and is in keeping with both the Rubrics and Canons of The Episcopal Church.

Beginning immediately:
· only the consecrated bread of the Eucharist is to be distributed at the altar rail in your parish.

· Provision for those who wish to take the risk of drinking from a common cup should be made by having a station for communicating the wine, separate from the altar rail in your parish.

· In no cases should intinction (the act of dipping the bread into the wine) be used to receive the wine.

Please note: This liturgical pastoral directive is intended to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and also to protect those who are worshipping. It will be time limited direction based on the progress of the disease. Receiving only the bread at the time of communion is a full and sufficient participation in the sacrament.

You are very much in our prayers in this challenging time.

Faithfully,

The Rt. Rev. Ian T. Douglas & The Rt. Rev. Laura J. Ahrens
Bishop Diocesan                       Bishop Suffragan

God of the present moment, God who in Jesus stills the storm and soothes the frantic heart; bring hope and courage to all who wait or work in uncertainty. Bring hope that you will make them the equal of whatever lies ahead. Bring them courage to endure what cannot be avoided, for your will is health and wholeness; you are God, and we need you. Amen.

COVID-19 & St. Peter's

From our Bishops:

Federal health officials have warned that it is anticipated that the COVID-19 (coronavirus) will probably spread into the United States. It has been recommended that churches, businesses, schools, and hospitals begin making preparations

 

There are basic steps each of our communities within the Episcopal Church in Connecticut can follow to minimize risk for our parishes and people, and the ministries to which they contribute or by which they are served. 

Some initial actions we encourage you and your parishioners to pursue are: 

• Wash your hands frequently, using soap and water or an alcohol-based rub. All clergy and eucharistic ministers should use an alcohol-based rub before the distribution of the sacrament, both in the context of the liturgy or in visiting someone at home or in the hospital.

• Practice keeping a safe distance in social interactions. In general, maintain a distance of a few feet between you and others, particular those who are coughing, sneezing, or evidently ill.

• At the peace encourage parishioners to exchange the peace of the Lord without touching.

• Try to avoid intinction (if your hands are not clean) in receiving the Eucharist as fingers and hands carry viruses and other pathogens. Assure parishioners that receiving in only one kind (in this case, the bread) is a full and sufficient participation in the sacrament. 

• Practice respiratory hygiene. Cover your mouth when sneezing or coughing; discard tissues immediately in closed bins.

• Avoid shaking hands at the doorway after the service and other physical greetings.

• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.

• Any parishes involved in ministries in which food is served (including coffee hour!) should give particular attention to The WHO recommendations regarding food safety.

• Needless to say, we should send a clear message that if anyone feels ill or unwell, they should, as a general rule, seek medical care immediately and not attend parish events.

• Related to this, if someone who is elderly or lives alone does not appear at church in what would otherwise be a regular function, create systems for wellness checks.

The Town of Monroe response is here. Adapted from a fellow clergy's post:

What about the common cup at the Eucharist?

The simple answer is this - peer reviewed studies and Centers for Disease Control guidance since the 1980s have consistently shown that "no documented transmission of any infectious disease has ever been traced to the use of a common communion cup" and "the risk for infectious disease transmission by a common communion cup is very low, and appropriate safeguards--that is, wiping the interior and exterior rim between communicants, use of care to rotate the cloth during use, and use of a clean cloth for each service - would further diminish this risk." American Journal of Infection Control (Vol. 26, No. 5, 1998).

We do all these things at St. Peter's! Our Eucharistic Ministers are trained to wipe the rim of the chalice between each communicant, to rotate the purificator (the cloth), and the Altar Guild ensures a clean cloth is used for each liturgy.

Is it more sanitary to intict the host into the cup than drink from it?

No - As any experienced Eucharistic Minister or clergy person will tell you, it is a common occurrence when people intict the host for their fingers to touch either the consecrated wine or the side of the chalice. This is in fact less sanitary then drinking in the first place - we can make sure our Eucharistic Ministers and clergy wash their hands, but we can't do the same for the whole of the congregation!

Here are three options for you:

1. When in doubt, drink from the common cup - it is the most sanitary way for you to receive the consecrated wine at the Eucharist. Christians have been doing so for centuries, and still manage to die at the same rate and pace as the general population!
    
2. If you don't want to drink from the cup, don't intict for yourself if your hands are not clean. Instead, leave the host on your hand, and allow the Eucharistic Minister to intict it for you, and place the host on your tongue. This ensures that only people with washed hands are handling the hosts, and it eliminates the unsanitary conditions that are caused by intiction.
    
3. Finally, if you don't want to receive the cup at all, it's ok not to. The church believes that all of the grace of the sacrament of the Eucharist is conferred wholly in each element - both consecrated bread and wine. To receive only the host is not to have a "half blessing" or to receive "half communion." Instead, receiving in one kind is to fully partake in the Eucharistic feast.

The Serenity Prayer

The Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr (1892-1971)

God, give me grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that You will make all things right,
If I surrender to Your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.

(written in 1943)

Lent 1 Sermon (March 1)

O Lord and Ruler of our life: Deliver us from the spirit of sloth, idle talk, faint-heartedness, and lust for power; and grant unto us, your servants, a spirit of integrity, humility, patience and love. Sovereign God, grant us the ability to see our own faults and not to judge another’s; for you are blessed to the ages of ages. Amen.

After his baptism, Jesus goes into the wilderness, a deserted place, a frightening place, and is confronted by Satan.

“If you are the son of God” – the devil’s temptation of Jesus begins with Satan questioning who Jesus really is – Three times he says it and then bases all his temptation on that fact.

“If you are the son of God.”

Such temptation exists in all of us. Do we question who we are? Who God created us to be? Do we get envious of others?

There was once a stone cutter who was dissatisfied with himself and with his position in life.

One day he passed a wealthy merchant's house. Through the open gateway, he saw many fine possessions and important visitors. "How powerful that merchant must be!" thought the stone cutter. He became very envious and wished that he could be like the merchant.

To his great surprise, he suddenly became the merchant, enjoying more luxuries and power than he had ever imagined, but envied and detested by those less wealthy than himself. Soon a high official passed by, carried in a sedan chair, accompanied by attendants and escorted by soldiers beating gongs. Everyone, no matter how wealthy, had to bow low before the procession. "How powerful that official is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a high official!"

Then he became the high official, carried everywhere in his embroidered sedan chair, feared and hated by the people all around. It was a hot summer day, so the official felt very uncomfortable in the sticky sedan chair. He looked up at the sun. It shone proudly in the sky, unaffected by his presence. "How powerful the sun is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be the sun!"

Then he became the sun, shining fiercely down on everyone, scorching the fields, cursed by the farmers and laborers. But a huge black cloud moved between him and the earth, so that his light could no longer shine on everything below. "How powerful that storm cloud is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a cloud!"

Then he became the cloud, flooding the fields and villages, shouted at by everyone. But soon he found that he was being pushed away by some great force, and realized that it was the wind. "How powerful it is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be the wind!"

Then he became the wind, blowing tiles off the roofs of houses, uprooting trees, feared and hated by all below him. But after a while, he ran up against something that would not move, no matter how forcefully he blew against it - a huge, towering rock. "How powerful that rock is!" he thought. "I wish that I could be a rock!"

Then he became the rock, more powerful than anything else on earth. But as he stood there, he heard the sound of a hammer pounding a chisel into the hard surface, and felt himself being changed. "What could be more powerful than I, the rock?" he thought.

He looked down and saw far below him the figure of a stone cutter…

Don’t we all fall into that same trap as the stone cutter? Wishing for us to be something different…

“We shall not cease from exploration and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” – TS Eliot (Little Gidding)

But Jesus doesn’t get stuck in his temptations, he turns away from them. Denies the devil his due. This is not who I am… So much about temptations is about staying centered in who we are, always arriving back and knowing for the first time who we are; whom God created us to be.

A minister was leading a Bible study group in a women’s prison. At one point, a young indigenous woman spoke up. She leaned forward with tears in her eyes and said:

“ Can I ask a question? I don’t know how to say it, but I really wanna know. How do I get ‘unstuck’? I’m so tired of making the same mistakes, going back to the same people and problems . . . I don’t know . . . I guess I just wanna know how to get ‘unstuck.’”

Her words dripped with urgency, longing, dread and pain.

The minister and volunteers leading the group bumbled toward a response, acknowledging how hard it was to break out of patterns of addiction and abuse and dysfunctional relationships and poverty, but that God is “present in the journey.” The minister leading the group later reflected:

“I suspect that even as I grieved for the specific ways in which this young woman was stuck, I was recognizing myself and many of my peers in her words. I suspect we all get to a certain point in life where the word stuck can easily creep into our vocabulary. Passion for the job seems more elusive, the sizzle of a marriage wanes, faith seems more remote and inaccessible.

In whatever domain of life, we settle into familiar and predictable rhythms. We realize that there are things about our lives, our communities, our world that are rather hard to change . . . I thought of all these things as I drove home from the jail. I thought about how it’s not just individuals who get stuck, but relationships, businesses, churches, institutions, even cultures. And I prayed. For all who feel stuck and for all the ways in which we need to get unstuck to live the lives we were created for.” [Ryan Dueck, writing on the CCblogs network, June 13, 2019.]

The season of Lent is a call to become “unstuck”: to discern those areas of our lives that have become “stuck” in self-centeredness, monotony, hopelessness and isolation, places of envy and loss. During these forty days of Lent, the Spirit of God leads us to rediscover the presence of God in our lives, to walk with Jesus in the landscape of the heart. To remember who we really are. May Jesus’ spirit of compassion and his light of wisdom enable us to get unstuck in order to truly live our lives in the fullness of God’s grace.

Amen.