From the Rector: Updates
/Dear friends,
As we continue to adjust to the new realities, I have much information to share with you.
Tomorrow is the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, which according to the church calendar is the Feast of Corpus Christi. Morning Prayer will be read in the church at 8:30 am, followed by an hour of Eucharistic devotion, and then mass at 10:00 am ending with Benediction. Tomorrow is also the public holiday of Kamehameha I. If you plan to attend, it would help us if you registered your attendance by emailing the office.
If you come to a Daily Office at the church, I recommend that you bring your personal Prayer Book. Most Daily Offices continue to be read online via Zoom, but a few are offered in the church now. The Daily Office calendar will always clarify when and where the offices are being read. (The church does have a limited supply of old Prayer Books if you would like to have one. This might also be a good time to finally buy your own if you don't have one.)
This weekend we will once again offer the Vigil Mass outside on the lawn at 5:30 pm. This Saturday Evening Prayer will also be read on the lawn beginning at 5:00 pm. Please bring your lawn chairs or a blanket for seating. If it rains, the services will be held in the church. The outdoor location of this service will be evaluated each week. (I am discovering that very few people prefer for the service to be outside.)
Don't forget to bring your goods for the St. Mark Sale at the weekend services or at one of the designated Friday drop-off times. All the information that you need about the sale is on the website, including the "do not accept list" and the drop-off times. Due to COVID, parishioners are not allowed to drop off items at random times during the week for the safety of the preschool children. (The parents of the children are not even allowed onto the playground during the week. They must check in their children at the gate.)
This Saturday after Morning Prayer we will gather online via Zoom for a virtual recitation of the Holy Rosary. Morning Prayer is at 8:30 am, and the Rosary will begin at 9:00 am.
It turns out that I delivered Sunday's sermon seven times! Three times were at the weekend masses, and none of those managed to get recorded. Yesterday I preached it four more times, and finally after having Siri bomb it once, and then have the recording fail twice due to electrical outages, the fourth time worked. The sermon from Sunday is now on the website.
We need to populate the flower donor calendar. Before the pandemic we developed a system in which donors could sign-up online to sponsor flowers, candles, and music for the masses. That system has turned out to be a blessing now. Sign-up for flowers, candles, or music online. (We continue to have the sign-up sheet in the church on Sundays as well, but you must speak with the ushers to use this method.) Last Sunday's flowers were particularly magnificent, welcoming us all back into the church.
Our services were well-attended on Sunday, following the physical distancing rules that are required. It was also nice to be within the church - a space that has been hallowed by prayers for countless generations. I had to do some shopping yesterday, and I realized that coming to church is so much safer than going to the markets right now. We continue to evaluate everything week by week, day by day.
I know that all of these protocols are frustrating. I find them immensely annoying, and I miss how things were before. When I start to think in this way, I now start to think about the Sunday Gospel, and how God can bring about creativity and growth in every situation. You might find this approach helpful too. When the world is bringing us down, how do we look to God and find hope? As Christians we are in the "hope business." No matter how annoying things are, we always have a purpose and we always know that all shall be well. Let's keep hope alive, because at the end of the day, nothing can ever take the good news of Jesus Christ away from us.
Stay hopeful,
Father Paul Lillie +
