The Shell Newsletter – May 14, 2020

Update

Our Path Forward Together

As you have likely now heard, Maryland’s stay at home order ends tomorrow at 5:00 pm.  With this the Governor has given the green light for the resumption of outdoor church services and limited indoor worship, and non-essential businesses may reopen by following strict health and safety guidelines.  As I wrote about last week, in addition to state guidelines we also need to meet Diocesan procedures to begin in-person worship again.

Here is a brief outline of what we anticipate for the coming weeks:

• Following the Governor’s encouragement for people to continue to work from home if possible, the parish offices will remain closed for now. Kristin & Laura will continue to work from home for at least a few more weeks and will reassess at the end of the month.
• We are waiting for final guidelines from the Diocese for resuming in-person worship. Once we have those we will need to submit a plan for how we will adhere to said guidelines in order to receive permission to begin regathering.
• We will continue our current pattern of worship through Pentecost on May 31^st.
• There is a probability we may begin to hold outdoor services in June. We will continue live streaming worship.
• The Thrift Shop will remain closed for now as we pull together the final pieces of our plan for a safe resumption of business, but we expect to open soon.
• The Nursery School, following the directive for public schools, has closed for the rest of the school year.

Next week we will be sending out a brief parish survey to get feedback from you to help us firm up plans for the near future.  Please take a few minutes to fill it out so that we can continue to stay connected, stay church, and take care of each other.

 ~Kristin+

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From the Rector

Equipping Ourselves for the Ministry to Come

As most of you know, in addition to being Rector of St. James’ I also serve as the Director for the College for Congregational Development in the Diocese of Maryland.  Over the last two and a half years we have been working and preparing to launch the College here this summer.  In light of current circumstances we made the hard decision last month to postpone the launch of the College until June 2021.

As disappointing as that is, it’s instead presented us with new opportunity!  Now more than ever equipping communities with congregational development tools is essential.  And so we’re going to be hosting virtual CCD workshops via Zoom on June 10 & 11 that are open to everyone in the Diocese of Maryland – for free!

I would love for us to pull together a team from St. James’ to attend.  Here’s the blurb with further details:

Come get a taste of what The College has to offer in four one hour sessions over Zoom. Each session will teach one of the core models or principals of Congregational Development with a specific eye toward how this particular model or tool is useful during this unprecedented time for the church. How can this crisis be part of the healthy development of our congregations? Come find out.The workshops will be offered June 10 & 11 from Noon – 4:00 PM each day. Zoom presentations will be from Noon – 1:00 PM and 3:00 – 4:00 PM, with time in between to work on assignments and/or set up virtual meetings with your congregational team for reflection.

Please pray about whether this is something you are interested in participating in.  You don’t have to chair a ministry or consider yourself a leader.  The ways we stay connected, stay church, and take care of each other are changing as we speak, and it’s going to take all of us together to ensure that St. James’ remains a beacon of hope here in Mt. Airy in the years to come.  I hope you will join in being a part of that work.

Yours in God’s peace,
Kristin+

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At Home Worship/Formation

Virtual Worship

• Join us for Zoom Morning Prayer at 9:30 am followed by Coffee Hour this Sunday, or watch the livestream on YouTube.  A printable bulletin is available here.  Click here to download a children’s worship bulletin.

• Virtual Compline services on Facebook are Monday through Friday at 8:30 pm.  You do not need to have a Facebook account to “attend” – just click here to participate.  While your at our Facebook page be sure to “follow” and turn on notifications so you will be alerted when we go live or post updated information.  Compline order of service

Resources:

For a complete listing of resources visit our At Home Worship/Formation page.

• Compline order of service
• The popular daily devotion Forward Day by Day is posted each day online, and it too is available as a podcast.
• Lectionary Readings for the Sixth Sunday of Easter:  Acts 17:22-31; Psalm 66:7-18; 1 Peter 3:13-22; John 14:15-21
• Next Week’s Commemorations:

May 17	William Hobart Hare, Bishop of Niobrara, and of South Dakota, 1909
May 19	Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, 988
May 20	Alcuin, Deacon, and Abbot of Tours, 804

Quartermania

Unfortunately, due to the continued regulations of self-distancing, we have found it necessary to cancel our Quartermania fundraiser that was scheduled for early June.

Please stay safe and know that we will have fun times together once again before long!

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Outreach

It is our hope that you and your family are still doing well as we “stay church” during these challenging times.

Our wishes to be back to a normal schedule by now have not been fulfilled yet, but we still have hopes to be able to meet as previously scheduled on June 18th at 6:30 p.m.  If you enjoy supporting our community, please join us in the church kitchen at that time or at a future meeting on any of the following dates: Aug 20, Sep 17, Oct 15, Nov 19 or Dec 10.  Please contact our Chairperson Gabby at gabbyn.m.4272@gmail.com for any further information.

At our meetings we will be beginning our plans to support our community for the upcoming fall and winter holiday seasons.  We strive to help our community and congregation in any way we can, therefore, always appreciate new members and their ideas!

At this time the Mt. Airy NET is still NOT accepting donations of food or supplies “due to COVID-19 prevention”, therefore, please continue to hold onto your Lenten collections.  Meanwhile, the NET could definitely use monetary donations for assistance with other necessary items for their growing list of clients.  The Mt. Airy NET asks that monetary donations be made through their website at MtAiryNet.org OR mail a check to Mt. Airy NET, Inc., 403 S. Main Street, Mt. Airy, MD  21771.  Your generosity will be greatly appreciated!

Also, per the NET, they “are open during the pandemic.  If you need food, please come by.  We are open 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Monday thru Thursday and have plenty of food.  If you know someone who needs food, please have them come by or contact us.”  301-829-0472 NET IS OPEN DURING THE PANDEMIC. 

Blessings of continued safety to each of you from your Outreach Committee.

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WEEKLY ANNOUNCEMENTS

Parish Administrator Hours for the week of May 17, as needed from home.

Book Discussion Group   Gather to discuss Ann Lamott’s Almost Everything – Notes on Hope.  Our meeting has moved to Zoom on Thursday, May 21 at 7:00 pm.

Prayer Rotation Please join the Daughters of the King in praying for each parishioner in rotation during 2020 by taking this notice home and by posting it where it will remind you pray to on a daily basis for the needs and blessing of: