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Monday, March 23 2020
Dear Friends, At this most difficult time, I hope this finds you healthy and safe. Your Vestry moved from meeting in the Guild Room to a Zoom meeting taking place in our homes, be they permanent or temporary. I worked from Lin's sewing/craft room with a background including an ironing board and shelving containing her quilting fabric stash (just one visible part) and boxes of my tapestry yarn. I started to try to learn to weave VERY basic tapestry projects a little over a year ago. I'm certainly glad I started doing that. It gives me something to do during this time of nunwanted, yet necessary, social distancing. New members Troy Atwell, Ted Focke, Bob Le Roy and Fawn Hacker were finally able to participate in a Vestry meeting. Ordinarily their first meeting would have taken place during the annual retreat, but this is proving not to be an ordinary year. As you may recall, the retreat was cancelled due to the current medical crisis. Welcome Troy, Ted, Bob and Fawn! As we began, we learned of the personal impact of this pandemic on Vestry members. If I remember correctly, there were two members whose immediate families have been directly affected by this outbreak. I know we all send prayers to everyone being forced to deal with the reality of this crisis. Rather than repeating information on other agenda items, I will refer you to Fr. R.C.'s weekly letter in The Messenger and Treasurer Bob LeRoy's report included in this edition of The Chronicle. On a typical Sunday as we conclude our services, we always share celebrations and express our thanks for the gifts that have been bestowed upon us. Continuing in that spirit, I want to take this opportunity to celebrate the life of our beloved little dog, Tiny, our faithful and devoted friend for the past 7+ years. Tiny was 16 years and 10 months old, and we knew him since he was a puppy. We lost him last Friday. In celebration of his life and the joy he gave us, I've mailed a donation to St. John's | San Juan, and want to encourage you to continue to do so when there is someone or something you want to celebrate. These opportunities for celebration and thanksgiving may become even more essential as the days pass. The same would be true of your pledge or other financial contribution you typically make. We do need to try to continue to maintain some degree of normalcy and routine as best we can, and we need to remember bills must still be paid. A few final thoughts--I subscribe to the Episcopal Church Foundation's (ECF) publication "Vital Practices." It has proven to be a wonderful source of information and ideas addressing issues common to churches. This most recent edition contained a wonderful letter from ECF President Donald V. Romanik dedicated to the Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic. He opened his writing with the following scripture from Isaiah 41:10, and I will use it to close mine: Do not fear, for I am with you,
Stay healthy, |
