A note from St. John's Senior Warden Peter Grim

What challenging times have befallen our world in the past months!  COVID-19 (commonly known as the Coronavirus) has spread rapidly from Asia, through Europe and to the North American continent.  All of our daily lives are impacted in one way or another.  Families are having to deal with school closures and how to manage children while parents may still be called on to work.  Teachers, people employed by the restaurant and bar industry, and many others, are without work and are challenged to make ends meet.  I am intimately involved in making day to day decisions for those who work for my company, and I struggle to balance the welfare of our team members and the good of the company.  Long-term, these become well-aligned.  Challenging times indeed.

Today, as I absorb the latest information regarding the virus and strive to lay the plans necessary to respond to any number of scenarios that may confront us, I had moments of calm, of peace, and of solace, remembering my grand-niece’s baptism now more than a week ago, and the joy Denise and I found in watching Fr. Kelly’s 10:00 service this past Sunday live on Facebook.  Obviously, we missed the comradery of our typical “face-to-face” worship, but we respect the effort we must all take to protect each other and not cause more potential exposure than is absolutely necessary.  Worshiping as families, as individuals, as friends, whether face-to-face, or now by Facebook and YouTube, we are STILL worshiping as a congregation!  You might be pleasantly amazed to know that, beyond our own congregation, our “on-line” ministry reached nearly 2,000 viewers just since this past Sunday!  Imagine the joy, the comfort, and the strength our message brings to so many souls we have yet to meet!  In times such as we are now living, we must remain strong, resolute and ever more compassionate in support of St. Johns and in support of God’s message that we so gladly share with his blessing to so many others.

While we urge our parishioners to worship remotely, obviously the work of St. Johns will go on – especially now – especially in these times – to “Know Christ and to make Him known”!  I request and I pray that you will remember to join me and the rest of our congregation in continuing our financial support of St. John’s on a regular basis.  We are working to make it ever more convenient to make your contributions.  Denise and I went “old school” and just sent our offerings in by the U.S. Mail since we missed the past two Sundays.  And we already have established methods worshipers can use to contribute on-line.  If you have any questions, please let us know – reach out to a member of the Vestry – and we can certainly help guide you through a method that is most convenient for you.

May the Lord continue to bless you, your families and all of those who will hear and see God’s on-going message through the work of our congregation!