We have spent most of the last 24 hours praying and planning in response to the provincial regulations announced yesterday afternoon. After working through countless iterations and possibilities we have landed on the following for this coming Easter Sunday.
8:30am Traditional Morning Prayer
We will gather together in-person in the nave for a service of Morning Prayer. The service will also be streamed on Facebook Live. With the increasing COVID infection numbers and rising concern we thought it wise to not celebrate communion. We are allowed to safely and legally gather up to 15% capacity. If you have already signed up for this service we are counting you as confirmed. Please update your Eventbrite if you are no longer planning to attend, so others can use the limited space. There remain a handful of spaces so please sign up here if you would like to attend this service.
10:15am Family Service
We will gather together in-person in the nave for this worship service. The service will also be live-streamed to Youtube on our channel. Again, we will not gather around the Lord’s Table. The recent 15% capacity limit means that we already have more people signed up than we can accommodate. If you signed up you will receive a phone call tomorrow to confirm that you still plan to attend. Households will be called in the same order in which we received the reservation. Please let us know if you are not planning to attend or if you would rather give your seat to someone else.
My dear church family, I know that we are all growing weary. Gathering only in small worship services and online for Easter is less than we had all hoped. Yet our governing principles of neighbour love, safety and preserving our public witness require that we respond accordingly. As Christians we can celebrate the Risen Christ in this extraordinary way, given the extraordinary circumstances, confident that He has risen, indeed! That resurrection changes everything, even his ability to meet with us when we are scattered.
John 20:26 records that after that first Easter Sunday, when Jesus had conquered death and the grave, he appeared to the disciples behind locked doors. “Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you.’” Easter means that the resurrected Jesus can meet us anywhere and is neither bound nor restricted by anything, not a locked door and not the distance spanned by the internet. I pray that this Sunday, as we gather together in Easter worship, Jesus would come to you, stand among you and speak the same words, “Peace be with you.”
With Easter joy,
R.D.
