While we are still in social distancing because of COVID, we will continue to offer Sunday worship, Christian education, and weekday Vesper service through the ZOOM platform. ZOOM gives us more interactivity and flexibility than the Facebook Live and other services we looked at. HOWEVER do be safe, all of our Zoom services will require a password to participate.

If you are not already on the church mailing list, please sign up here for email updates . This will not only keep you up to date, but have the meeting and password information needed to participate in online worship.

10:00 a.m. Worship: Click here to join in worship at 10 a.m.! We will be streaming Palm Sunday. Here (Palm Sunday Bulletin) is the bulletin if you wish to view it on another device or print it beforehand. The bulletin will also be projected this week.

If you miss it live, the recording of the live stream and an audio clip will be shared so that you might pray and listen at your convenience.

We have been strongly discouraged from handing out palms… that’s okay! Bring in greenery! Print out a palm and color it!

NEW Virtual Coffee Hour! About 10 minutes after the service ends this Sunday, around 11 a.m., come “see” and chat with the people and friends of St. Mary’s! Click here to join in on Zoom! BYOC (Bring Your Own Coffee/Tea/Water/Whatever)!

Monday, April 6
Holy Week Coloring Packets! Enjoy the following packets have coloring pages, age appropriate information, and family discussion prompts about the most important weeks in the Christian year.

• Holy Week for Preschoolers Coloring Pack for Preschoolers
• Holy Week for Elementary Aged Children Coloring Pack for Elementary Aged Children

• 10:00 a.m. Worship: Click here to join in worship! We will again stream morning prayer with a sermon and music at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday.
• The Book of Common Prayer is online if you don’t have one at home!
• Video and audio recordings will be shared so that you might pray and listen at your convenience if you miss it live.
• Permission to podcast/stream the music in this service obtained from One License with license#A-725427
• 10:45 a.m. Godly Play for Children Ages 3 – Grade 3 (online)
• 11:00 a.m. Youth Group 4th Grade and Up (online)
• The Godly Play and Youth Group are interactive classes just for our kids and youth, so they won’t be posted later.
• 11:45 a.m. Welcome back to the discussion component of the Lenten series–now online! We’ll watch the video on shelter together (which we will be thinking of from a whole new angle now) together then talk about it and the concept of shelter.

Dear People and Friends of Saint Mary’s, 

Well, after that long, carefully crafted email I sent you just yesterday, the wardens and I have now decided to suspend all worship and all activities at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Newton for the next two weeks. There will be no in-person Sunday services on Sunday, March 15 or 22 (though see below!). Christ the King will also not hold services in our buildings, and AA (our largest weekly public gathering) will not be meeting here as well. Hills and Falls, the preschool that meets on our premises, has also suspended its activities. 

This is not a decision made lightly but with an eye towards doing our part in slowing the spread of COVID-19. Though we are smaller and thus are supposed to be less at risk, we also must take into account that our demographic skews towards those who are more vulnerable. We will reevaluate after two weeks. 

We will not leave you comfortless! 
This Sunday, March 15:

• 10 a.m. Worship: I will stream morning prayer with a sermon on Facebook at 10 a.m. on Sunday. Kirsten will also be present so that you can hear some lovely music and sing a hymn.  

• The Book of Common Prayer is online if you don’t have one at home! 
• If you miss it live, an audio file and/or recording of the live stream will be shared so that you might pray and listen at your convenience. 

• 10:45 a.m. Children: Andrew will lead a Godly Play story for children ages 3-grade 3 through Zoom this Sunday at 10:45 a.m.. The link is on the St. Mary’s youth webpage and here.  

• 11 a.m. Youth: Andrew will lead a meeting of youth (fourth grade and up) through Zoom this Sunday at 11 a.m. (note new time). The link is on the St. Mary’s youth webpage and here.  

Thursday, March 19: Vespers at 7 p.m. 

• Andrew will also lead Vespers online via Zoom this Thursday at 7 p.m. The liturgy will be displayed on the screen so that we can all pray together for our community and the world. The link is on the St. Mary’s youth webpage and here. 

Connect with Each Other

• I encourage you to be in contact via phone and email with one another, especially with parishioners and friends who you are concerned about or who may not receive this email. If you are aware of a parishioner I should contact, please let me know. If you do contract COVID-19, it would be helpful to let me know, too. I will protect your privacy. 

• Please contact me via email with pastoral concerns. If someone needs something like groceries and can’t leave his/her home, let me know. I won’t be visiting people in person since I don’t want to pass anything between different people. But there are TONS of options now–calling, video, texting. Be in touch!

But wait! There’s more! 

• Do Faith at Home: This Episcopal, lectionary based website provides a prayer, Scripture, and prompts and reflections, for children to adults. It’s really good! 
• Ways to Pray if You Can’t Get to Church: Daily prayers and resources (including a finger labyrinth!), compiled and curated by the Rev. Jo Kershew, priest in the Church of England

We will be providing more ways to interact and more resources in the days to come. I’ve been turning to this prayer these past few days. May you find some comfort in it, too.  

God of the present moment,God who in Jesus stills the storm and soothes the frantic heart; Bring hope and courage to us as we wait in uncertainty. Bring hope that you will make us the equal of whatever lies ahead. Bring us courage to endure what cannot be avoided, For your will is health and wholeness; You are God, and we need you. Amen.

Adapted from the New Zealand Book of Common Prayer

I know the back and forth is not ideal. I would rather run the risk of being an alledged flip-flopper than be part of the problem. Thank you for understanding.

Sincerely, 

Ann

As cases of coronavirus COVID-19 continue to multiply exponentially, it’s important to remember that people of faith have gotten through tough times before. We will get through COVID-19, too – by taking all mandated and recommended precautions seriously and by supporting one another in creative ways. 

St. Mary’s will be following all new diocesan mandates and recommendations on Sunday, including: 
• Offering communion bread only. 
• Passing the Peace with no physical contact. 
• Not passing offering plates – You may drop in a contribution on your way to the altar rail or mail a check to the church. 

The following persons are particularly at risk and should take extra precautions: 
• Persons over the age of 60 
• Anyone of any age with underlying medical condition, particularly respiratory conditions, autoimmune disorders, those undergoing or recently receiving chemotherapy, and cigarette smokers 

What else is St. Mary’s doing? 
• Plans are in motion to increase our sharing of digital resources—music, meditations, and more—in the days to come. 
• Special Music Sunday with Mozart’s Mass in D major, originally scheduled for Sunday, March 22, is being postponed. 
• Coffee hour and the in-person portion of the Lenten study are cancelled for the next two weeks.