| “Be present, O merciful God, … so that we who are wearied by the changes and chances of this life …” The changes happen so quickly these days. Within the past week, we have had to stop services of public worship and cancel events. Schools are closed, the elderly and those with frail medical conditions are staying home, the rest of us wonder if we can find enough toilet paper at the grocery store to get through the week! Please know that even if we can’t meet face to face and hand to hand in church, we still are Grace Church. We can still pray for each other and the world. We can — and should — reach out to our friends and neighbors by phone or email. We can still keep community. We can still love and care. “… may rest in your eternal changelessness …” What else can you do? Go to the website of the Diocese of Central New York for Bishop DeDe Duncan-Probe’s message and information about church resources. We can’t GO to church but we can visit some beautiful ones, with good music and preaching, on line, on Sundays and weekdays: Washington Cathedral, in Washington, DC Trinity Church, New York, Broadway at Wall Street Trinity Church, Boston, at Copley Square Now may be a good time to reacquaint ourselves with the treasures in our own Book of Common Prayer. I began with a prayer from the service of Compline, and I want to end with another. We know in a crisis just how much we depend on so many others: nurses and doctors and caregivers in nursing homes. Truck drivers and dairy farmers and grocery store clerks. Journalists and county executives and mayors. Now is the time to thank them — and if you are one of them, I want to thank you. “O God, your unfailing providence sustains the world we live in and the life we live: Watch over those, both night and day, who work while others sleep, and grant that we may never forget that our common life depends upon each other’s toil; through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Please let us know if this virus affects you in your daily life, either if you are ill or need help, even with daily tasks like shopping or errands. We can find a way. We will be in touch. — Jackie Schmitt, priest-in-charge. |