Dear friends,

St. Mark's continues to prepare for our return to worship at the church. The Vestry, as well as many of our committees, have been meeting online discussing the various protocols that are required to ensure safety. Needless to say, this new normal will require adjustments from everyone.

This Sunday, May 31, is the Day of Pentecost, and we will worship together online. We will have our normal Sunday morning online mass at 9:00 am, preceded by Morning Prayer at 8:30 am. In addition, on Saturday evening, May 30, at 5:00 pm we will gather online for the Pentecost Vigil - a festive service of music and readings celebrating the Day of Pentecost. This Saturday evening service will feature Jieun Newland on the organ and a small schola of singers. Many of you are familiar with the Easter Vigil, but there have also been various formats for Pentecost vigils throughout history.

On Sunday, June 7, Trinity Sunday, we will return to the church for worship. Plans are still being crafted. Please prepare for the reality that the worship schedule will be altered for various reasons such as cleaning. Stay tuned to the Evangel for updates.

For now, please note the following for future in-person gatherings.

General Safety Guidelines

Everyone will need to wear a mask when at the church.
If you are sick, please stay home.
If you have been exposed to the coronavirus within a fourteen day period, please stay home.
Please wash your hands thoroughly and regularly.
If you are a senior, or if your immunity is compromised, please discern carefully whether or not you should attend in-person worship. We will continue to offer the Daily Office online throughout the week for the parish. Sermons will continue to be posted on the website and social media.
Please observe physical distancing at the church.
All Bible Studies, formation classes, committee meetings, and Daily Offices will continue to meet online throughout the month of June.

Worship Guidelines

At our services, you will be shown where to sit. Please do not congregate into groups before or after the services.
The Peace will be shared without physical contact, and we ask family units to also avoid physical contact so that our messaging may be consistent. (Families with younger children present may disregard this request.)
We encourage everyone to make their offering through the online giving platform via the website. For those who bring their donations to the church, there will be a calabash for your offering. The offertory plates will not be passed among the people.
At the mass, only the bread will be distributed to the congregation. For the time being, the chalice will be withheld. The Church throughout the ages has taught that the Sacrament is fully efficacious in one form. The Sacrament will be brought by the Celebrant to you. Please sanitize your hands before receiving the Sacrament. Parents should receive the hosts for themselves and their children, and then administer the hosts to their children. Once the Celebrant leaves your presence, you may remove your mask, consume the host, and reposition your mask.
You may choose to fast from receiving communion when attending the Eucharist. Cross your arms over your chest to signal to the Celebrant that you will not be consuming the host, and that you are communing spiritually. The priest will provide a blessing from afar.
All congregational singing has been suspended. We may have a cantor. We will have organ music at the services inside the church.
All aloha hours have been suspended for the time being.
When the service is finished, please leave the church building without congregating into conversational groups.
Only the priest, the appointed acolyte for a service, and the appointed altar guild volunteer should enter the priest's sacristy.

Hymnals & Prayer Books

All hymnals and prayer books have been removed from the pews for the time being.
If you have your own Book of Common Prayer, you might consider bringing it with you to the services.
If you come to a Daily Office in the church, or if you plan to make your confession, you will need your own Book of Common Prayer. If you would like an old BCP that is no longer used by the church, please speak with the rector.

Complaints

We are banning all complaints during this time. Your priests will probably break this particular rule again and again, so be patient with them.

This list will evolve over time, so everyone needs to remain flexible. I find it quite amusing that books and congregational singing have been banned by this virus! Saint Hildegard (d. 1179) wrote a liturgical drama called The Play of the Virtues. In this drama, the virtues are able to sing their parts, but the devil is condemned to live without music, so he can only speak. It would seem that the devil has gained quite a bit of power during this COVID pandemic.

Furthermore, who would have ever thought that books must not be touched. We are a church of books. Episcopalians learn how to juggle hymnals and prayer books for worship. In England and throughout the Anglican Communion, there are many cathedrals and churches in which the seating resembles being in a library. At your pew or stall, there is a proper ledge for the placing of prayer books and hymnals, often lined with little lamps illuminating the books and the texts. Books have always been integral to our Anglican ethos.

I told someone the other day, somewhat jokingly and somewhat seriously, if this pandemic takes away incense, I am done. It has taken away our books and it has taken away our singing, but we still have incense - the prayers of the church rising to God Almighty. Most importantly, this pandemic cannot take away our faith. No matter what we are required to do out of safety, we still have our faith. The devil should truly stop wasting everyone's time trying to kill the church, because we obviously refuse to die. God made this fact abundantly clear on the cross and on Easter Day, and these COVID tactics are not going to prevail, because God always wins.

Blessings to you and your loved ones,
Father Paul Lillie +