May 2020 Newsletter
ST. MATTHIAS’ NEWS I pray everyone is well during this Easter season. We have some exciting news. As I prepare for ordination in June, Evan Eads has agreed to be our new Bishop’s Warden starting May 1st. He has the full support of Bishop Reed. Evan, thank you for stepping forward. The Diocese has extended through May 15th the suspension of in person worship services. We don’t have any details on how my seminary class ordination will be changed in light of Covid 19. I will provide details as I hear them. We are having great success in both livestreaming as well as taping our services through our St. Matthias Facebook page. We are constantly improving our graphics and camera sharpness. We are currently livestreaming Wednesday Evening, Sunday Morning Prayer worship services and a short daily prayer. Folks who can’t watch our services live can view them anytime on the page. St. Matthias is reaching a lot more people that we normally do and we should celebrate this opportunity to reach out to others in our large community of faith. We had 200 people watch our Easter sunrise service and continue to have large numbers watch all of our livestreams and uploads. Meg posted her first Story Time reading video “Miracles of Jesus” for children. The response has been great! She will be posting more story videos on Wednesdays and Sundays. Meg led our first online POSM event. The children (and some adults) painted designs on small rocks. Please upload your photos to the St. Matthias Facebook page. Stay tuned, Meg will be providing future family events. 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. Thank you everyone for continuing your pledges to support St. Matthias. We already have two families using the online tithe.ly account. You can mail a check to St. Matthias, P.O. Box 682, Devine, TX 78016, or utilize our new secure online giving portal (https://tithe.ly/give?c=1404414) account that will probably be the best option for those that want to use it. We’ve already tested it and it works great! The following is from Bishop Reed: (You can read Bishop Reed’s full letter on our Facebook page)
Dear Friends in Christ, After much study, prayer, and conversation with clergy and lay leaders in the Diocese of West Texas, as well as with bishops around the country, I am extending the restrictions on in person church worship and meetings. With great sadness, but with confidence that this is the way our Lord is calling us, we will continue to refrain from gathering for worship and other church activities in person through May 15. While in some parts of Texas the spread of COVID-19 seems to be slowing, the great majority of public health and medical experts report that we have not yet reached the peak of confirmed cases. Increasingly, our smaller communities now report rising numbers of confirmed cases. A few short weeks ago, only ten of the sixty counties in our Diocese had confirmed cases. Today, 78% of our counties do. The practices of limiting non-essential travel and physical distancing are working. Together we are proactively slowing the spread, protecting the most vulnerable among us, and “flattening the curve.” But, our country, our state, and our communities still have a ways to go in this pandemic journey. You, the clergy and people of West Texas, have borne this burden of love so well up to this point, and I am asking you to persevere for two more weeks.
Blessings, Dexter Lesieur