A NOTE FROM THE RECTOR:

Dear Members of St John’s,

I do ask you to maintain your faith in these days. Feed it by daily prayers. Feed it by praying for your sisters and brothers in Christ, BY NAME. Feed it by calling each other and having simple, friendship conversations. We are certainly in a functional crisis regarding our common life, but within the Church and in our communities. We all need to create new or renewed “neural connections” within our parish. 

Regardless, Father Guy feels the need to continue being the teaching/preaching voice and will post a video sermon to the Facebook group on Saturday afternoon for the Sunday readings.

I am going to ask you to do three specific things in the coming weeks.

1. Pick two persons/households in the parish directory, specifically ones whom you think might be isolated, and call each one time this week. Do not be afraid to call Father Mackey if you think someone is at particular risk for despair or is particularly vulnerable to the virus.

2. Log on to our Facebook group, Friends of St. John's, Farmington, and interact with the meditations and lessons I (and maybe others?) might post. We can by words on the computer, continue to study and inform one another in the Holy Scriptures and study.

3. Come to the church between 8 and 11 on Sunday mornings to offer private devotions. Public services of more than 10 people need to be suspended. However, Father Mackey and your Wardens are not willing to lock the church against the Faithful. This is a painful decision for us, as our Eucharistic gatherings are the keystone of our common life. 

Of course we do ask that you do the safe things of hand washing and other sanitary actions being suggested by the medical professionals during this time. We do want to avoid the large gathering of people which is of course, one of the fastest ways to spread any viral disease.

The Church will be an open place of prayer during this time of doubt and questioning, even during the week when the office is open. We must continue to be a safe haven for the you, the Faithful so that they (you) can offer safe haven and words of strength to those around you. We must also continue to be a place of strengthening and refreshment for our members to be ministers and servants.

Father Mackey and 

Your Wardens