Our June Newsletter is out!

• Three Views on Mission, by the Rev Canon Michael Penfield
• One Love, by the Right Rev Winfield Mott

• The Line, Volume 7.5 Web (PDF for web / email distri bution)  
• The Line, Volume 7.5 Print (PDF for printed booklet / parish distribution)

Please find linked below a special May Newsletter remembering The Right Reverend Richard Boyce (d. April 20, 2020).
As the Diocese of the West, Bishop Boyce was our Bishop Ordinary until his retirement in 2011. 

Memory Eternal!

• The Line, Volume 7.4 Web  (PDF for web / email distri bution)  
• The Line, Volume 7.4 Print (PDF for printed booklet / parish distribution)

Please find linked below the April Newsletter in time for Holy Week:

• The Line, Volume 7.3 Web (PDF for web / email distribution)  
• The Line, Volume 7.3 Print (PDF for printed booklet / parish distribution)

Note to Clergy: please distribute this issue within your respective ministries and parishes.

• For email the web/email version, the short link is here:  https://bit.ly/ACW_Line_7_3
• The print version is formatted to be printed on one double-sided 11 x 17 sheet and folded as a booklet. 

(A hopeful word about Holy Week planning from  St Barnabas, Shoreline, WA . Fr Harley Crain can be reached at  saintbarnabasanglican@outlook.com )

In this time of virus and the chaos associated with it, we are overwhelmed with news, politics, isolation, inconvenience, misinformation, gloom and doom.

It is amazing, that drive up coffee and fast food is considered essential, while churches have been closed.  Does that render Jesus and our faith in the trinity, non-essential? Often the news and recommendations are contradictory. Sometimes the contradictions occur with the next breath or sentence.

Secularism has taken a stronghold over the spiritual world.  There is burgeoning social and secular religiosity around the topics of distancing and stay at home mandates. While science is important in directing the management of this crisis, we as Christians must not lose sight of who is really in control. God is in the science!

Be encouraged that Christ is the true healer.  While this virus receives front page news that it is ravaging life, as we knew it, God is healing the earth without notoriety or fanfare. 

It is important that we seek His miracles.  For instance, there has been measurable reduction in carbon emissions with confinement.  What will we learn from this?  Neighbors are reaching out and helping others!  Individuals are digging deep to create, donate, and feed, as we’ve been scripturally directed to do. While some may turn to reporting their neighbors for too many trips out of the neighborhood, many are striving to stay present with friends, family, parishioners and community members.

Blessed Lent!

Please find linked below the March Newsletter:

• The Line, Volume 7.2 Web (PDF for web / email distribution)  
• The Line, Volume 7.2 Print (PDF for printed booklet / parish distribution)

Please print this issue out and distribute it within your respective ministries and parishes. This edition is formatted to be printed on one double-sided 11 x 17 sheet and folded as a booklet. 

From http://www.themdas.org/statement-regarding-covid-19-coronavirus/

On Tuesday the 25th of February the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a statement asking the public to prepare for a potential health crisis. As of Wednesday, the 26th, 59 confirmed cases have been reported in the United States.

The situation is very fluid. The CDC has been candid, stating that this is a novel virus and that their understanding of its transmission and treatment is limited.

According to the CDC:

• The risk today: “For the general American public, who are unlikely to be exposed to this virus at this time, the immediate health risk from COVID-19 is considered low.”
• The future: “However, it’s important to note that current global circumstances suggest it is likely that this virus will cause a pandemic. In that case, the risk assessment would be different.”

I encourage each congregation to adopt the following measures to help minimize the spread of any contagion.

• Encourage any members with symptoms of a cough, disease or a fever within the last 24 hours to stay at home. 
• Provide several containers of alcohol based (60%-95%) hand sanitizer around your congregation in highly visible and accessible areas. Make sure there is a container available for members  to use before taking Holy Communion.
• Provide boxes of Kleenex and facial tissue in the sanctuary so that those members who are coughing and sneezing can safely cover their mouths and nose.
• Provide empty waste bins in the sanctuary so that soiled facial tissue can be disposed of safely.
• Before and after officiating, all clergy should wash their hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds .
• Clergy and Lay Eucharistic Ministers must use hand sanitizer right before they begin distributing the Communion elements.
• Take care of your self during pastoral visitations. Follow all infection control measures in place at hospitals.

A homily for Ember Week 2020 Clericus 

Readings:

Genesis 49
Psalm 119:89-104
Matthew 7

“We put not our trust in anything we do”