church in the time of covid-19

Sunday, March 22, 2020
10:30 am

Welcome to Morning Prayer. The following is a liturgy for you do do on your own at home, or with us
live on Facebook at 10:30 am PST

Morning Prayer from Celtic Daily Prayer

  In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Opening sentences
One thing I have asked of the Lord, this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life;
to behold the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.

Call: Who is it that you seek?
Response: We seek the Lord our God.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your heart?
Response: Amen. Lord, have mercy.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your soul?
Response: Amen. Lord, have mercy.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your mind?
Response: Amen. Lord, have mercy.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your strength?
Response: Amen. Christ, have mercy.

Declaration of Faith
To whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know
that You are the Holy One of God. Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory.

Today’s Scripture Reading
Matthew 20:29-34

Today’s Meditation
Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery it is. In the boredom and pain of it, no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it, because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.

Frederick Buechner

Prayers for others  
pray for our church, our community, our world

Canticle
Christ, as a light
illumine and guide me.
Christ, as a shield
overshadow me.
Christ under me;
Christ over me;
Christ beside me
on my left and my right.
This day be within and without me,
lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.
Be in the heart of each to whom I speak;
in the mouth of each who speaks unto me.
This day be within and without me,
lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.
Christ as a light;
Christ as a shield;
Christ beside me
on my left and my right.

Blessing
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you.
May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm.
May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you.
May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

March 19, 2020

Hello friends.

My heart grieves and my soul prays for our world, for those who are sick, for those who caring for them, and for all who have lost loved ones to this virus. I ache for the overworked grocery clerks and the masses now without work. Lord, have mercy.

How I miss seeing you and giving you a hug. Singing and worshiping God together with you. Know that we as a church staff have been praying for you and thinking of you every day. You are loved. We wanted to share a word of encouragement, some updates and news, and what we’ve been working on to stay connected with you and with our community.

A Word of Encouragement

What a wilderness time we are in right now. This week I’ve been thinking about the Israelites in the wilderness, people who wandered and wondered: where’s God? How will we be fed? When can we go back??

Yet every morning bread falls from heaven. Manna in the wilderness. God is with them, nourishing them every day with just enough. As we walk these days of wilderness isolation, I invite you to look for the manna. How is God feeding your soul? Where is there a blessing? For me this week, manna has come in the form of time in the garden, praying with my family, a phone call from a friend. Look for the manna, gather it in, savor it.

I also encourage you to be the manna. Often, manna comes in the form of other people. Consider how you can be a blessing to someone else. Make a phone call, send a text, order take out and bless a small business owner. Make some art, music, food.

Share the manna. Tell someone: in a letter, a phone call, over the fence with a neighbor. Share your manna stories with us so we can share it with others. We plan to make our April newsletter a theme issue - “Manna in the Wilderness” - and we’d love to share your manna: a photo or a poem, a new recipe you tried. We’ve also started a “Manna in the Wilderness” blog on our website to share stories, videos, kids artwork, photos, etc. Got some manna to share? Upload your stories, photos, videos, recipes, etc. here.

News and Updates

We have formed a “COVID-19 Response Team” made up of a handful of elders, deacons, staff, and members. This very excellent group is meeting online (not in person) twice a week to discuss and discern how best to be the church in this trying time, such as:

1. Worship

Sundays 10:30 am Facebook Live Morning Prayer service & music (lasts 15-20 minutes). If you are on Facebook, look for our Summit Ave Presbyterian Church page and follow us at 10:30. If you miss it live, the video will stay on the page for several days.

2. Coffee Hour

While we can’t meet in person, we encourage people to grab a cup of coffee or tea Sundays at 11:00 am and connect in one of two ways: 1) call a friend and check in, or 2) if you have email, check it for an invitation to a “Zoom” meeting – an online chatroom where we can see each other’s faces and hear voices. Hooray! Didn’t get an invite? Email us!

3. Groups and Committees

Zoom Meetings can make online gatherings happen for any group or committee that would like to meet. There is a phone-in option as well for those who do not do computers. Thursday nights @ 7 pm we will host a Lenten Zoom via Facebook or email link. If you would like to use our church Zoom account to meet with your team or group, let me know and we’ll set you up.

4. Building Use

All outside groups have been informed that the church is closed.

5. Office

Office hours are suspended to support social distancing. However, until further notice, Woody will be in the office 9am - 2pm Mon - Thurs to facilitate communication and attend to other needs in the building. You can reach him at 360-377-2740 or office@summitave.net. Deanna, Gary, and Susie are all working remotely as well as in the office.

6. Community Connection

We are in communication with Bremerton Schools, Mayor Greg Wheeler, and our County Commissioners to let them know we are praying for them and to ask how we can help. We are also in contact with on-the-ground ministries to the hungry and homeless in Kitsap to ask how we as a church can serve and support. They are deeply grateful for our prayers and will contact us when they know more.

7. Finances

One of the questions we know people are asking is about financial support. Even though we are not gathering in person, it would be helpful to our ministry if you can maintain your pledge support via the mail or electronically through the giving link on our website. Our team of counters is working with Woody to get weekly giving counted and deposited.

Staying Connected

Facebook and the new Manna Blog are great ways to stay connected electronically. Deacons, elders, and group leaders are also making phone calls to check in. Don’t want to hear from us? Give us a heads up and we won’t bother you!

Need help with groceries, TP, tech support? Let us know.
Want to help? Let us know that as well. We will connect you with volunteer opportunities as we find out about them.

This is indeed a wilderness journey. Yet God is with us, sending us manna each day. So let us look for the manna, be the manna, and share the manna.

The peace of all peace be yours,
Susie

Sunday, March 15, 2020
10:30 am

We invite you to pray with us. Quietly in your homes, or with us
live on Facebook at 10:30 am PST

Morning Prayer from Celtic Daily Prayer

  In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Opening sentences
One thing I have asked of the Lord, this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life;
to behold the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.

Call: Who is it that you seek?
Response: We seek the Lord our God.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your heart?
Response: Amen. Lord, have mercy.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your soul?
Response: Amen. Lord, have mercy.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your mind?
Response: Amen. Lord, have mercy.
Call: Do you seek Him with all your strength?
Response: Amen. Christ, have mercy.

Declaration of faith
To whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know
that You are the Holy One of God. Praise to You, Lord Jesus Christ, King of endless glory.

Today’s Scripture Reading
Matthew 19:16-30

Today’s Meditation
Be open to the night…

Pray with open hand, not with clenched fist…

Shapes loom out of the darkness, uncertain and unclear: but the hooded stranger on horseback emerging from the mist need not be assumed to be the bearer of ill…

The night is large and full of wonders…

Lord Dunsany

Prayers for others
 pray for our church, our community, our world

Canticle
Christ, as a light
illumine and guide me.
Christ, as a shield
overshadow me.
Christ under me;
Christ over me;
Christ beside me
on my left and my right.
This day be within and without me,
lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.
Be in the heart of each to whom I speak;
in the mouth of each who speaks unto me.
This day be within and without me,
lowly and meek, yet all-powerful.
Christ as a light;
Christ as a shield;
Christ beside me
on my left and my right.

Blessing
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you, wherever He may send you.
May He guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storm.
May He bring you home rejoicing at the wonders He has shown you.
May He bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.

+ In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

March 13, 2020

My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow. Stay here and keep watch with me.  Matthew 26:38

My soul is indeed overwhelmed with sorrow and concern for our city, our nation, our world. I have shed tears for our church, for the families who have lost loved ones already, for the vulnerable in our region, for moms and dads who may not be able to work with schools canceled, for small businesses, and for things yet to unfold.

Questions outnumber answers. Yet in so much of life we are simply called to live the questions, and the one that keeps rising to the top is this: Where is Jesus and what does it mean to follow him in this? In this season of Lent, two images from Scripture guide us:

Jesus in the wilderness

We are in the wilderness right now. It is wild and the landscape keeps changing by the minute.

This is our time of testing. The temptations of fear, control, and denial loom large.

This is our Lenten fast. Social distancing and self-quarantine make us ache and hunger for human connection, the most vital of foods to our souls.

Jesus in the garden

I feel it deep in my being that we are called to stay here with Jesus, watch, and pray. Not check out, but face the sorrow and trust that resurrection awaits on the other side.

After much prayer and conversation with elders, staff, and presbytery friends this week, and in consultation with guidance from local and state health officials, we have made the deeply difficult decision to enter a time of fasting from church as usual. To that end,

In-person worship is canceled for at least the next two Sundays (March 15 & 22)

Cancelling worship goes against our instincts, of course, yet after extensive discussion, we believe it to be the wise course of action now. While we would do everything we can to minimize the threat, including adapting worship and sanitizing and deep cleaning, medical professionals strongly suggest that the practices of “social distancing” are particularly apt for a church community.

Yet we will keep watch and pray

Deanna, Woody, and I will be in the sanctuary at 10:30 am this Sunday:

• We will light the Christ candle and the two prayer candles – for the church, for the world.

• We will pray, we will read Scripture, and we will sing our Lenten song, Stay With Me.

• We invite you to light a candle at 10:30 and follow along with us wherever you are from this prayer page or from the Celtic Daily Prayer website.  

• We are working on putting our Sunday prayer service into video form to share with you so that we can join together as a church to stay with Jesus, keep watch and pray. We will post a link to this here before Sunday morning.

• Many churches in our area and across the nation are live-streaming full worship services. Most are on Facebook. We are not set up to do this at this time, but if this is something you would find meaningful, I encourage you to check out Central Kitsap Presbyterian or Lake Burien Presbyterian’s Facebook pages for their services.

Questions will continue to arise and we will keep living into them. We are putting together an emergency response team at Summit to consider these questions and develop responses. One of the questions we know people are asking is about financial support. Even though we are not gathering in person, it would be helpful to our ministry if you can maintain your pledge support via the mail or electronically.

In addition to questions of how we will continue to love God and love others in this, there are also questions of how we can serve our world right now. I am in communication with Bremerton Schools, Mayor Greg Wheeler, and our County Commissioners to let them know we are praying for them and to ask how we can help. I am also in contact with on-the-ground ministries to the hungry and homeless in Kitsap to ask how we as a church can serve and support. They are deeply grateful for our prayers and will contact us when they know more.

After forty days, the devil left and angels came and attended him.

Friends, I believe you and I just may be the messengers God has called to attend to one another, our neighbors, our city in this wilderness. Make phone calls, deliver groceries, stock the food banks and pantries, step in. This devil will leave and our fast will end. It may last forty days or longer, but we will not be alone because God’s Spirit is with us. So let us stay with Jesus, keep watch, and pray.

In faith and hope,

Susie

March 6, 2020

Friends,

With reports about the spread of the coronavirus (or COVID-19), I want you to know that the health of our community is of utmost concern to me as your pastor as well as to the session and staff of this congregation. Our prayers are with those who have been affected by this outbreak directly, as well as those indirectly impacted through loved ones, heightened anxiety, incidents of bias or discrimination, or economic loss.

In the midst of all that is going on, we figured you might have some questions. . .

Is our church clean? YES!

We are doing all that we can to stay current with public health guidelines, follow best practices for hygiene, and exercise an abundance of caution and care in responding to this situation. Here is what we do every week already to keep our church building clean and disinfected:

· Bathrooms (toilets, sinks, counters, floors) are cleaned and sanitized

· Doorknobs and door handles are wiped down with disinfectant cleaner

· Drinking fountain sanitized

· Toys and tables in our Kids rooms are wiped down and sanitized

· All dishes used during Coffee Hour are washed in a sanitizing dishwasher

· Table tops and counters in the kitchen and fellowship hall are wiped down with disinfectant each Sunday afternoon

· Trash emptied and floors vacuumed

So will we still worship on Sunday? YES!

As of today, March 6, there are no confirmed cases in Kitsap County and Kitsap Public Health officials do not recommend congregations cancel worship services. Our oldest scriptures include guidelines for washing hands and keeping illnesses contained so that people are able to safely gather for worship and community. God’s people have always been committed to the physical well-being of all and to worshiping God in all circumstances.   

Will we still pass the peace? YES but we’ll pause on the shaking of hands for now.

Receiving and sharing the forgiveness of Christ is central to our faith and our worship. But there are many ways we can do this without touching hands. We can sign “peace be with you,” we can cover our hearts with our hands and then extend them in greeting, or other gestures of love and peace.

What about passing offering plates? Ahh, Nope.

We’ll have offering plates set up in the sanctuary for people to drop their offerings in before, during, or after the service. This may be a good time to consider our online giving option.

What else?

If you are feeling ill or have recently experienced symptoms of an infectious disease, we ask that you stay home from public events and/or keep a safe distance from others to limit contagion. Even if you believe you are not sick, but are coughing or sneezing, be mindful of the anxiety this may cause in others around you.
     If you decide to stay home from worship or other events due to illness, please find ways to stay in touch — through prayer circles, small groups, ministry teams, social media, or emails and phone calls (psst: sermons are posted online to our website each week). We don’t want to create situations where those who are ill also feel lonely, isolated or outcast. We want to pray for you and provide other forms of assistance and care as needed.

Do we still trust Jesus? YES!

The COVID-19 epidemic is real, and we need to take it seriously. At the same time, we are also best served by calm and compassion. Let us be faithful and vigilant in our prayer for those nations, communities, families and individuals most affected by this outbreak, and for the medical personnel and government officials seeking to respond. Let us resist and reject fear and suspicion based on ethnicity or nationality; this virus is affecting people of all races and ages. Let us be generous in supporting organizations that provide assistance and support public health in our area and around the world.  

Above all, let us remember and rejoice that “nothing in life or in death can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Brief Statement of Faith; Rom. 8:38–39).

Peace,

Pastor Susie