A NOTE ON GOVERNOR HOGAN’S COVID-19 ANNOUNCEMENT
Yesterday Governor Hogan announced the loosening of a few restrictions to the stay-at-home order, allowing some businesses and institutions (including churches) to re-open at 50% capacity. I wanted to let you know that the Clergy, Deacon, Wardens and Staff are aware and we have been in conversation with the Diocese about what the future looks like for the Episcopal Church in Maryland and for Memorial Church. We all deeply grieve not being together in person for worship, yet we recognize that as long as the virus is as widespread in Baltimore as it is today, it simply is too risky to gather inside, in person, in any form.
While we long to be together, I do not want it to be at the expense of anyone’s health. I want us all to be healthy and safe and worshipping together in the future.
So what DOES the Governor’s announcement mean for Memorial Church? What IS the plan?
First, Memorial is guided by the Bishop of Maryland, then the City of Baltimore and then the Governor’s guidance. Governor Hogan acknowledged that not all jurisdictions are ready to open up and a few (including Prince George’s, Montgomery and other counties) have already announced they will keep stay-at-home orders in place for the time being. Baltimore City and Baltimore County are likely to announce the same today.
Bishop Sutton and the Standing Committee of the Diocese are finalizing a phased plan for re-opening that will be parish and region specific. It is my expectation that the first phase may include limited outdoor worship and approval for small gatherings for weddings, funerals and baptisms as is appropriate.
Your vestry is meeting on Monday, May 18th to review the diocesan guidelines and to begin to plan for what this means to Memorial Church. We would like to invite you all to join us AFTER WORSHIP on May 24th for a VIRTUAL PARISH MEETING to discuss the path forward. I want to say now that we will not have all the answers by then, but hope to discuss as much as possible. We also don’t know all your questions. We are dealing with this seriously, prayerfully and mindful of what the science and the experts have to say. Please plan to join us.
A note on Choral Music: there is concern about spreading COVID-19 through communal singing. We and the Diocese are aware and are looking at the best possible medical and scientific guidance on what choir will look like when we gather back together. I don’t know what that will be, but at this point our ability to sing inside in a large group will be limited for some time. However, music and singing will continue to be a part of our common life, as it has been for Christians since the beginning, we just don’t quite know what that will look like yet.
In all cases, we remain a people of Faith and strive to be encouraged knowing that our Memorial Church will continue to gather and worship though virtually for the time being. Memorial will continue virtual worship through Pentecost and likely well into June, given the COVID-19 numbers in Baltimore. We are excited about how these services are developing and have some exciting things in the works for Pentecost and for the Sundays to follow.
Finally, a brief reflection on waiting. You might feel like the Psalmist these days, saying “How long, o Lord how long?” We don’t know exactly what the Psalmist was responding to in Psalm 13, but we do know that they felt forgotten, lost, scared and pursued by an invisible enemy. They also felt like God had left them behind. Our virtual worship, daily prayers and Lectio Divina reflections have been a helpful reminder of God’s love for us but I know you (as I have) feel like it is not quite the same. And in darker moments perhaps feel like the enemy is winning and wonder where God is. So let me remind you (and myself) that God’s hand is at work in myriad ways through this crisis. From the doctors and nurses working in ER’s and ICUs caring for patients, to the public health officials setting up contract tracing or managing information and access to PPE, to the researchers working in labs, to the grant writers and funders making resources available to better understand this strange and confounding virus, to the front line workers keeping us safe, keeping our streets and communities clean, keeping us fed, and clothed and connected, to the innovators creating new ways for people to work, worship, gather, recreate and play virtually, to the abundance of God’s green earth that allows us an outdoor playground to breathe fresh air, feel alive, and be healthy, happy and whole. In Psalm 13 the psalmist does not find their resolution in the solving of their problems or the destruction of their enemy — they find resolution in experiencing God’s Love: “ But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because the Lord has dealt bountifully with me.”
So let us continue to sing - through the safety of zoom - and rejoice in God’s never failing love for us through his Son our Savior Jesus Christ.
