News from the Congregation April 3, 2020
Living a Structured Life in Isolation; ”Pin Holes of Light”- Cathedral Nave to Serve as Field Hospital, Audio Updates from Congregation Members, Daily Hymns on Slack; Holy Week at the Cathedral (Links to Compline, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Services); Radical Love Live
Canon Lee
This week, the Dean announced to the Cathedral Chapter that Mt. Sinai Morningside (the former St. Luke's) has taken up his offer of help. They will be operating a 385-bed "non-COVID-19" facility in the Nave of our Cathedral in order to free up space inside the main hospital for COVID-19 patients.
The above photo, taken by the Dean, shows some of the cots and equipment arriving this past Wednesday morning.
My pride at how our Cathedral is "stepping up" to serve our community in this time of pandemic is tempered by the sobering reality that creating a hospital inside our Cathedral has become necessary in this crisis.
We are told to expect even more bad news in the coming weeks ahead.
In the midst of this frightening crisis, I am so thankful for the different ways our Congregation offers for connection.
We've only had three services so far, but I have come to treasure our Congregation's Wednesday night Compline services. It is such a joy to see everyone's faces on Zoom.
I have also loved hearing the audio updates from our members. This week, we have updates from Donna Devlin, Kelly Wilson and his son Jonah, and Lorraine Simmons, and I hope you take a moment to hear how they are doing. Susan Sobolewski has contributed another piano piece, this time a beautiful Chopin Étude.
On Slack, Chris Clowdus has been uploading hymns daily, and there is an active prayer channel, where people offer up their prayer requests to the over 60 members who already part of this new online community.
Finally, this week, we have launched a "Call-In, Check-In" ministry. In the coming days, around 30 volunteers will be calling the approximately 360 members and friends who make up our church community to check in on them and to speak to them by the old-fashioned telephone.
I pray that these little bits of digital and analogue connection offered by our Congregation may be pinholes of light in this present darkness.
We say
pinhole.
A pin hole
of light. We
can’t imagine
how bright
more of it
could be,
the way
this much
defeats night.
It almost
isn’t fair,
whoever
poked this,
with such
a small act
to vanquish
blackness.
-Kay Ryan
The Rev. Canon Steven Lee
Canon Pastor and Vicar
THIS SUNDAY, APRIL 5
10:00 AM - Online Sunday Morning Bible Study by Zoom
This week's Bible Study is led by Warden Tim Dwyer and will be online by Zoom.
10:00 AM - Digital Sunday School Materials Emailed
Both Jennifer Allen and Donna Devlin will be sending out materials for our children's programs. Please contact them if you would like to receive their packets.
11:00 AM - Online Cathedral Worship Service
Visit the Cathedral website: http://www.stjohndivine.org or the Cathedral Facebook Page: http://facebook.com/StJohnDivineNYC to view the livestream of this Sunday's worship service.
12:00 PM - Digital Congregation Coffee "Half-Hour" by Zoom
This week the digital coffee "half-hour" is hosted by the Newcomer Committee led by Sharné Jackson and Scott Klein.
12:30 PM - Online Adult Formation Class by Zoom
Join Sub Dean Malloy for the second class on the history, theology, and practice of the Daily Office. All are welcome.
For all Congregation Zoom programs, we have one simple meeting ID, which you can click at the appropriate time to participate: https://zoom.us/j/2123167483
To use the Zoom video-conferencing system: Click the Zoom link above, and you will be prompted to download and install the Zoom application. After the Zoom application is installed on your computer, wait until the program is scheduled to begin. At that time, click the link again to open up a video-conferencing screen.
HOLY WEEK AT THE CATHEDRAL
Monday - Friday: Online Morning Prayer at 8:30 AM and Online Evening Prayer at 5:30 PM
Wednesday, April 8 | 8:30 PM - Congregation Compline by Zoom with the Vicar
Thursday, April 9 | 7:00 PM - Congregation Online Gathering and Prayer Service
Friday, April 10 | 12:00 PM - Live-Stream Good Friday Liturgy
Saturday, April 11 | 12:00 PM - Holy Saturday Liturgy officiated by Jennifer Allen
Sunday, April 12 | 11:00 AM - Live-Stream Easter Sunday
For complete schedule and links to all services, visit: https://www.stjohndivine.org/spiritual/holy-week-at-the-cathedral/
ONGOING PROGRAMS
Slack: Click this link to join us on Slack, which is a chat room for the Congregation, and a great way to stay connected in this time of physical distancing.
Community Notes: If you would like to contribute an audio update about how are you doing, please email: yess@saintsaviour.org.
Radical Love Live: Visit www.radicallove.live for more information about this innovative podcast and live event series, developed in partnership with the Congregation, which is designed to create spaces for people to talk about spirituality in all its forms.
Marsha and Tim
Dear Friends,
How are you doing? That’s the question. Are you safe? Are you sheltering in place with family or on your own? Are you managing to keep your spirits up? Are you eating healthy food? (Fresh Direct is out of mayonnaise---maybe that’s a good thing!) Finding a way to exercise? Do you stay in your pajamas each day, or do you get up, get dressed, brush your teeth and find something useful to do? (like so many of us these days, your junior warden “goes to work” on his computer each day in a smart-looking dress shirt on top, shorts and flip-flops below). Getting in the reading you had put off or exhausting the options on Netflix? Praying a lot more than you used to?
Through the enforced isolation of “social distancing,” many of us are starting to feel like involuntary hermits. We see most friends only on computer screens and hear their voices on the phone. A simple handshake would feel like a luxury, dinner with neighbors seems like a distant memory. Then this week we learned of the passing of Brother Anthony Francis, an active member of the Cathedral community since the early 1990s who in 2002 willingly embraced a life of solitude. Before he decided to become a hermit, Brother Anthony had a family, served as a healing minister, was a gifted photographer, and also participated in the Congregation’s poetry writing group, Wild Angels. Although he stayed in New York City and held a position in an advertising firm, he chose to live a solitary life, keeping a vow of silence and a regime of prayer when he wasn’t working (The New York Times did a wonderful feature article on him when Bishop Sisk accepted his vows as a solitary - https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/25/nyregion/public-lives-hermit-finds-life-of-quiet-prayer-amid-city-s-roar.html).
For some of us who are alone in an apartment, the secret to staying sane is to have a structure to the day. Let’s be inspired by “solitaries” like Brother Anthony. They live a life completely structured by daily prayer. We can do that too. Thanks to the Cathedral’s liturgy department there is daily morning and evening prayer. On Sunday afternoons, our Sub Dean is offering instruction on the origins and structure of the Daily Office. The icing on the cake is Wednesday night Compline that our vicar Steven leads, the last order of the day and perfect for calming down and getting ready for sleep. If you are in the city, another regular practice is to join your neighbors each night at 7:00 p.m. by opening your window and whooping and clapping to send a message of thanks to all the health care workers and first responders who are working more than anyone should to help those who are sick with corona. All of New York from Staten Island to the Bronx offers up a collective whoop. It is very heartening and reminds those of us who love New York why that is.
We are probably in this situation for a longer time than we imagined, so finding a way to stay sane and healthy is very important. We are sure that we will have many opportunities as a community to help in this pandemic. Your senior warden had purchased 50 masks before we were told not to do that. CCC ran out of masks that they use when handing out food so it was lovely to be able to hand dozens of them over for the feeding program. We are so proud of the Cathedral for offering the nave to Mt. Sinai Morningside (St. Luke’s) to use as a hospital for non-corona patients. It is said that the Church exists for those outside of it. Here is a wonderful, appropriate use of this sacred space. Thank God that we could help in these difficult days.
Brother Anthony Francis, 1937 – 2020. May he rest in peace!
Many blessings and virtual hugs from your wardens.
Tim and Marsha