April 2020 Newsletter
BISHOP’S WARDEN NEWS
I pray everyone is well in this Lenten season as we prepare for Holy Week amongst the COVID-19 virus pandemic. It’s important to know Church isn’t closed! Our people are the church. Since, we can’t worship in person at St. Matthias, I’ve been livestreaming our services through our St. Matthias Facebook page. With help from our film production team (Meg/wife and Nick/son) we are doing our best to bring a message of hope and peace through our Lord Jesus Christ into your homes whether they be on cell phone, tablet or desktop computer. While we are in a learning curve on livestreaming, we feel comfortable in providing you this service. Folks who can’t watch our services live can view them anytime on the page.
We learned during our first Morning Prayer service the video cut out due to so many folks using the bandwidth. While we were able to show the service in three parts, we believe the problem is fixed.
Our weekly in person bible study has also been temporarily put on hold but everyone is encouraged to continue either in personal or family study. If you need any help our guidance, please let me know. Since we can’t hold in person Bible Study, I’ve started Wednesday Evening Prayer services at 6:00 pm. I wanted to start these services after my ordination but I felt it’s a necessity now. I’m also providing short daily prayer videos.
I am hoping our congregation would find some comfort through the livestreaming services and prayers. I was amazed at how many folks are actually viewing them. Our first Morning Prayer service had 72 views. The Wednesday Evening service had 41 and our daily prayer videos have as much as 54 views. Those are just views and we don’t know how many couples or families are watching as part of the views. St. Matthias is reaching a lot more people than we normally do and we should celebrate this opportunity to reach out to others in our large community of faith.
Our plans are to livestream our Holy week services along with our Sunday and Wednesday services. We will start with a livestream Palm Sunday (April 5th at 10:30am), Evening Prayer (Wednesday, 8th, 12pm), Maunday Thursday (April 9th at 12pm) , Good Friday-Tenebrae (April 10th at12pm) and Holy Saturday (April 11th at 12pm) culminating with a special Easter Sunday service (April 12th at 1030am). You can find lots of Godly Play for our children on YouTube, just search for Godly Play, there are many Lenten ones available for viewing. If the stand down is lifted and we can return to worship services in the church, we will be prepared to do so.
During this crisis it’s important to communicate. Please let me know if you have any questions, just want to chat or need help with something. I’m here for you.
We had a great pancake breakfast last month after the service. Thank you everyone who helped prepare all the pancakes and side dishes. We also had an interesting POSM family event. It was a St. Patrick’s Day theme. Meg made green Jell-O and we had arts and crafts along with a fun time for everyone. While our in person POSM family events are temporarily on hold, we are looking at livestreaming them. We continue to make deliveries to the Hospice Thrift Store, Women’s Shelter, Food Pantry and HANK (Helping Abused and Neglected Kids). We were even recognized in the local paper about our efforts. Thank you everyone who donate items especially during these times.
"God does not give us a spirit of fear and we are not reacting fearfully. Rather, He calls us to love one another and serve our community. As such, for the safety and well-being of our church community and protection of the most vulnerable among us, we will follow the guidance of our local officials and Diocesan Bishop. We recognize this exercise of caution will create financial strain on our church, but are prayerful our needs will be met.”
Please do not let the absence of an in-person gathering stop you from giving. Our goal is to limit the economic impact on our day-to-day operations of the church and our missions. While we may not meet face-to-face in large groups at this time, the work of the church continues, and your support is crucial.
I’ve had several people ask how to continue with their pledges to the church. First of all, thank you. Even for folks who don’t pledge but want to help the church, you have two options. You can mail a check to St. Matthias, P.O. Box 682, Devine, TX 78016, or utilize our new secure online giving portal Tithe.ly, here is the direct link to our account: https://tithe.ly/give?c=1404414 This will probably be the best option for those that want to use it, also using your bank information will create less fees then using a credit card. We’ve already tested it and it works great!
The following is from the Diocesan website: The Season - Holy Week and Easter - We can't get to Easter without going through Holy Week. Without Christ's Passion and Death, we can't find the empty tomb. Except for Easter Day itself, the Church's most ancient annual observances center around the events that took place in Jerusalem during the days that led up to Jesus' crucifixion and death. The Church has long recognized the centrality and the essential quality of these events for those who follow the Way of Jesus. The writers of the four Gospels spend a great deal of time describing the events that unfold in the days we remember as Holy Week-so much so, that some biblical scholars refer to everything else contained in the Gospels as "prelude" to the heart of the Good News: Christ's Passion and Death, with Easter as the sign of God's victory over sin and death on the cross. Without these events, none of the rest of the story of Jesus makes sense.
Blessings,
Dexter Lesieur