A letter from Rev. Clarence, 3/27/20

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A letter from Rev. Clarence, 3/27/2020
Good people and friends of St. James!
This epistle is sent you with much longing and hope that we are all observing the mandates issued by diocesan, local, and state authorities for the good of us all during these days and months of crisis. This particular weekly is especially long as it contains information not shared before. For better comprehension, I have divided it into sections with headings.
I. Professional
From our bishops: as I had anticipated, given my familiarity with regulations in Hong Kong, public, i.e. in-person worship is not an option. Unless civil authorities permit otherwise, Sunday, 31 May, the Feast of the Pentecost is hoped for as the day of great celebration and thanksgiving in our traditional venues. As my Hong Kong family informs me of decisions there re: public gatherings after already three months, that projection may itself change, be pushed further out, as the scientific research community rushes to find a vaccination for COVID -19.
Zoom meetings: Over the last two weeks, although my computer skills remain still at the neophyte level, I have participated in a series of meetings via the Internet with diocesan officials, as well as with clergy in our Alewife Deanery. These meetings have been informative discussions of directives from our Bishop, but also of ways in which individual parish clergy and parishes have attempted to assure each other and their congregations that the physical wellbeing of ourselves and of parishioners is paramount and in keeping with the Great Commandment of Christ, namely to love neighbor as self. And loving neighbor as self means presently distancing ourselves from each other. We clergy, to a person, agonized in all those meetings over how we might continue to be pastors when we could not render on-site pastoral care.
 
II. Parochial
Worship: Because we may gather in groups of maximally 10, some parishes—those so equipped—have attempted on-line streaming of services: the Eucharist, and Morning and Evening Prayer. We are not at St. James so equipped. As most of you are so very much more savvy than am I, I am certain that you are capable of locating such on-line worship opportunities. They may be found in our own diocese, as well as across our nation: www.cathedral.org/worship (our National Cathedral); www.sstephans.org/sermon-archive (Providence, RI), are but two examples of sites at your disposal. You will find offerings of parishes within our diocese by turning to our diocesan website: www.diomass.org. In those instances where a priest celebrates the Mass and it is streamed live, only the celebrant may receive the Host. Those viewing from afar or assisting in the visual transmission (standing at least six feet from each other) may/must make a spiritual communion.
 
Holy Week observances: Although still in the formatting stage, our local cathedral, the Cathedral of St. Paul on Tremont St., will stream services on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Day. Details will follow on the cathedral’s website (https://www.stpaulboston.org/). Obviously, these worship offerings will not be able to provide the liturgy, with which the Great Feast of the Resurrection is traditionally observed. To that end, I recommend turning to cathedrals in the UK for celebrations in 2019 found on YouTube: Guildford Cathedral or Wakefield Cathedral, and for the latter Palm Sunday 11:00 a.m. and Easter Day 9:15 a.m. Prior to moving from Holy Week observances, I would be remiss, should I not say a word of thanks to and praise of Carl Klein who has been a friend to me during this period of transition and stress due to COVID -19, but [also] to us all. Thanks to the repairs [that] he has made, as well as to his excellent musicianship, our historic tracker organ seems to sing (no pun intended) with a newer, stronger voice. Especially, I draw again your attention to the list of music appropriate for devotion during Holy Week which Carl Klein has posted to us all.
 
Pastoral connections: During these last two weeks, I have been privileged to have had pastoral visits via telephone with ca. 7 of you. I was pleased immensely to be able to speak with Raymond Clough, but affectionately known to us as Ray-Ray. I had not his telephone number nor email address, and so he reached out to me. I have requested again from the Carson brothers their email address, should they have one. I repeat my request: please do not assume that I know how to reach anyone electronically. Send me names and e-addresses. Most moving to me, though, have been the totally unexpected telephone calls from some of you, inquiring after my wellbeing. This is a reminder to me and to us all, one does not have to be ordained, in order to exercise ministry. In fact, some of the best and most effective ministers are to be found among the laity. Although presently I, too, must observe social distancing, you may and must feel free to ring in to me at all times: 617.744.0318.
 
III. Personal
To honor my word, as a means of demonstrating my desire to remain in contact with you all, I have attached my reflections (the usual 95-minutes long sermon!!!) on the reading from St. John’s gospel appointed for Lent V. [Note: see separate post.] I have posted the same to our friend, Renni, who has been for me as asset worth more than I could buy. She will correct my mistakes, so as not to embarrass St. James’ reputation, and post my Word for Sunday, or “Das Wort zum Sonntag,” on our Facebook page and website.
 
What I next say to you, could just as appropriately be included under the heading of pastoral connection. As someone who, even as a teenager and especially through all the years of living in Germany, finds it difficult to ignore the implied invitation of an open church door, this pandemic and the mandates that preclude corporate, i.e. in-person worship, have caused me to reassess what it means to be church. My colleague, the rector at Church of the Advent – Boston where I am also on non-stipendiary staff, summarized to his parishioners what is on point for me and for us all. I summarize: these times give us opportunity to remember that our Christianity lies not solely in carrying out liturgy. Liturgy, private and public worship, is an outward and visible expression of our faithfulness to what has come down to us from Jesus Christ himself and the Apostles.
 
I open my day with Psalm 46: Deus noster refugium: God is our refuge and strength. Nothing could comfort me more than this psalm during these challenging days.
I close my day with two parts: a) attending virtually choral evensong via YouTube at one of the cathedrals in the UK; b) listening to a performance of J.S. Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor and of Ralph Vaughn Williams’ Rhosymedre; singing with a cathedral choir the hymn The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended. As a dutiful grandson, I obey still today the dictum of my late maternal grandmother who admonished me: Grandson, never become so big that you fail to let God take care of His universe for at least 8 hours. And I close this epistle with a prayer found on pg. 830 in our BCP:
O God, whose fatherly care reaches to the uttermost parts of the earth: We humbly beseech you graciously to behold and bless those whom we love, now absent from us. Defend them from all dangers of soul and body; and grant that both they and we, drawing nearer to you, may be bound together by your love in the communion of you Holy Spirit, and in the fellowship of your saints; through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN
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