So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?" He replied, "It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." When he had said this, as they were watching, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. While he was going and they were gazing up toward heaven, suddenly two men in white robes stood by them. They said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up toward heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." (Acts 1:6-11)

I find incredible meaning in the fact that Jesus Christ died on a cross, was resurrected three days later, and ascended back to heaven. It gives me comfort in these troubled times that God has the power to go back and forth from heaven. Jesus ascends to the God and promises us that he will not leave us orphaned. We are empowered by the Holy Spirit to hear the Word of God. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He sets a path for us to walk. Part of this path is horizontal. We follow the commandments of God in our life by being the best person that we can be. We help each other when we are hurting and we invite everyone to join the family at St. John’s, Huntington. Through our prayer and worship we develop a vertical spirituality. This rarely happens if we are casual Christians. When we give our whole life to Christ, we develop a personal relationship with God. We have a conversation every morning. We pray for those who are hurting and God fills our heart with love, peace, joy, and a sense that our life has meaning. When things are tough for so many people both financially and mentally, God is especially present with us. We are able to do incredible things through the Holy Spirit and we can draw other’s hearts to relationship with God. I feel the presence of God when I am doing church together with all of you. This physical separation really tests our faith, but we have come together through zoom in new ways that have kept us close in heart.

We are going to throw the biggest 275^th Anniversary celebration next year when we are allowed to come back together! I want to still have the Harvest Fair in October. Some of the raffles might have to be online, but we need our ECW to have the resources to help our community. We are going to start getting back together at church in July in small groups, but it won’t be long until we are all back together. The bishop will set the rules, but have faith that we will emerge stronger than ever at St. John’s. We have faith that Jesus Christ died, rose again, and ascended into heaven. He will be with us every step of this uncertain Covid-19 path. We will continue to live stream with Facebook and YouTube. If you do not have the ability to get online with zoom, we are hiring interns to get you a computer that will easily get you connected. Please let Coral know of your situation and we will get back to you.

Almighty God, whose blessed Son our Savior Jesus Christ ascended far above all heavens that he might fill all things: Mercifully give us faith to perceive that, according to his promise, he abides with his Church on earth, even to the end of the ages; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

“Alleluia, He Is Coming”
by Martha Butler

I looked up and I saw my Lord a-coming.
I looked up and I saw my Lord a-coming down the road.

Chorus:
Alleluia, He is coming.
Alleluia, He is here.
Alleluia, He is coming.
Alleluia, He is here.

I looked up and I saw my Lord a-weeping.
I looked up and I saw my Lord a-weeping for my sins.

I looked up and I saw my Lord a-dying.
I looked up and I saw my Lord a-dying on the cross.

I looked up and I saw my Lord a-rising.
I looked up and I saw my Lord a-rising from the grave.

I looked up and I saw my Lord a-coming.
I looked up and I saw my Lord a-coming on the clouds.

A frequent image in literature and music is that of sight, of clarity of vision, of beholding with so much more than merely our physical eyes and one song that is unashamedly explicit in its use of this recurrent image is Martha Butler’s “Alleluia, He Is Coming.” Simple and familiar, easy to learn, easy to sing, yet sometimes simple and easy are best. But it is also a song charged with meaning, a song about you and me and the way in which we behold our Lord Jesus Christ coming, weeping, dying, and rising, a song about the fact that in the resurrection the kingdom of God has been inaugurated in a new way and you and I are to be part of that kingdom.

What we behold is a glimpse of glory and, just when we think that we understand, we discover that it is only a preview of something more glorious that for now must elude our grasp. It’s a bit like the overture to a Broadway musical that announces briefly the major themes to come. It is to apprehend for just a moment that such seeing is what we are made for, but not quite yet. Such seeing is a gift, a vision that has the power to alter who one is on the inside as with cleansed sight one beholds the Lord coming, weeping, dying, and rising as part of an eternal present—“He is coming; he is here.” Alleluia! At each moment our response is one of awe and admiration, praise and thanksgiving, humility and worship.

My Christian friends, the neo-pagan, post-modern secularist culture and intellectual academe seek to limit our vision and diminish our gifts: what the world of fact can neither see nor corroborate must therefore not be. What a suffocating view of existence as one is reduced to a mere accumulation of information. But this short hymn invites us to look up and discover that eternity remains resonant in the present and that the living reality of what we see is given unto us by grace and thus assert truly that “the concrete is not the last word or the ultimate arbiter of what is real.” As Bishop Tom Wright points out so poetically and perceptively in Christians at the Cross, “If you want to know what Christ’s death and resurrection mean, you have to hear the music, to listen not just to the tune which says he died and rose, but to the harmony which says ‘and this is what it means.’”

To look and behold Jesus coming—and here—is to see the one marked out as the rightful ruler of the world. With each repetition in the refrain, one has the overwhelming sense that the incarnate Lord comes first into history, then into our hearts, then, finally, at the end of time, he sets in place the new Jerusalem, the new heaven and the new earth. We may look up and see only through a glass dimly now, but even dimly it is God, paradoxically, in his fullness: incarnate, among us, crucified, risen, ascended, the King of all kings, the Lord of all lords, or as C. S. Lewis puts it “the glorifier and the glorified, Glory himself.”

When we look up and behold Jesus, we get the awesome sense that this is what we’ve longed for, that this is what we were created for: this clarity of vision and purity of sight. Fools will attempt to give us a reason for this; the wise dare not even make the attempt; because to behold our Lord and embrace the life-giving, truth-imparting Spirit he has sent us is what it means to be truly human. To look up and behold Jesus coming, weeping, dying, and rising is to have the barren deserts of our lives irrigated by a living water so that the promise of eternal joy becomes the certain hope of our lives and the Lord of all becomes the cornerstone of our existences. “Alleluia, he is coming. Alleluia, he is here.”

-Fr. John+

‘The Bright Field’ by R. S. Thomas

I have seen the sun break through

to illuminate a small field

for a while, and gone my way

and forgotten it. But that was the

pearl of great price, the one field that had

treasure in it. I realize now

that I must give all that I have

to possess it. Life is not hurrying

on to a receding future, nor hankering after

an imagined past. It is the turning

aside like Moses to the miracle

of the lit bush, to a brightness

that seemed as transitory as your youth

once, but is the eternity that awaits you.

At our recent clergy conference, former Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold gave three lectures with Bishop Geralyn Wolf (who had planned to join us for Easter). They presented, “Going deeper in the Word and in Prayer.” Their talks aligned perfectly with our Gospel reading from John 14 for this week. Thomas asks the Lord, “How can we know the way?” Jesus replies, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” St. Augustine said, ““O Lord, do I love Thee. Thou didst strike on my heart with Thy word and I loved Thee.” This week in morning prayer, we have been reading the 5th chapter of Matthew. In the beatitudes we get an idea of the love, grace, peace, and hope of God in Jesus Christ. In bible study, we looked at Acts chapter 14. Paul is traveling in Turkey and the Holy Spirit is lighting a fire in the hearts of both Jews and Gentiles. I ask you to meditate on the words of today’s Gospel and follow the daily lectionary in morning prayer at 9AM with all of us. When we look at the Word of God daily, the Holy Spirit has a way of bringing a message to our hearts that offers comfort and direction when we are suffering and lost. You have told me that you miss the physical touch of one another and the Holy Eucharist on Sundays. The Word of God and prayer combine to help those who are hurting toward the new path that is ahead of us. We see angry people on the television that do not know where they are going. I ask you to turn your frustration to the Lord who says, “Come unto me, all ye who are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.” (Matt. 7:28) I promise you that if you follow Jesus Christ, you will be on the best possible path and together, we will get through this pandemic. St. John’s is strong because we love one another in community, but we are also strong because of our faith in the Word of God and in our prayer.

Bishop Wolf used the example of Moses taking off his sandals when he came to the burning Bush. She explained how you cannot go very far when you are not wearing shoes because the desert has many small pebbles that aren’t very comfortable to stand on in bare feet. In other words, we are stuck in our houses and are now a captive audience for our Lord. We are uncomfortable standing on the small pebbles where we are right now. We are suffering and in need of God. The ramifications of this Covid 19 pandemic for our future are unclear, but they are certainly scary to many. Bishop Wolf offers the Word of God and prayer as a way for the Holy Spirit to touch us deeply because many of us are in need and paying attention. The sun will break through the field again. Maybe you can’t see it right now, but if you look towards the burning bush or the treasure that we are willing to give everything to possess. Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life. God has seen your suffering and heard your prayers. God will strike your heart through the Word and prayer if you will just take a few moments each day. If you will be present with a contemplative heart in the coming weeks, you will witness the Living God in your presence, and you will be transformed forever.

“Abundant Life” by Lisa La Grange

Abundant life is knowing You;
enraptured by Your grace.
Your promises are always true.
Your joy, none can replace.

For You’re the treasure hidden deep
my passion will unearth.
Those searching for Your Kingdom reap
the pearl of matchless worth.

You gave Your life to rescue me;
Your mercy overwhelms
and gives to me ability
to walk in victory’s realms.

Your glory pours down from above
and saturates my life.
I’m captivated by Your love;
delivered from all strife.

Majestic King in splendor bright,
You reign forevermore.
To be with You, my deep delight;
Your presence, I adore.

In this week’s Gospel from John, the Good Shepherd promises to believers that they may have life and have it abundantly. Jesus is the gatekeeper who knows our voice because we pray to him. Jesus know us by name and lays his life down for us. In this pandemic, the St. John’s community can no longer use the gate of the church. We are asked to stay home and stop the spread of the virus. I have learned that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ. We call one another, worship through Zoom, donate to those in our community that have no money for food right now, care for our families and those who are vulnerable, and pray together every day through morning prayer and the daily office. This experience has been financially devasting to some. Many families have lost loved ones. The virus has hit the population in Huntington Station the hardest and has impacted Latino and African American families harder than most. My prayers go out to all of you who are suffering. Maybe you are asking where this abundant life is?

Jesus Christ loves us dearly as a shepherd loves his sheep and was willing to die for our sins that we might have abundant life now and eternal life when we meet our Lord again. There is great hope in the resurrection and there is great hope in abundant life. Abundant life is finding the pearl of great price. A pearl so valuable that the merchant would give up everything else to have it. Relationship with Jesus Christ lets us know that we are rescued from a meaningless life and given purpose. Nurses and Doctors are giving themselves to those who are terribly ill. Nursing home workers risk their own health by caring for the elderly. Police and First Responders put their lives on the line for us. Our military stands between danger and our shore to preserve our freedom. Jesus teaches self-sacrifice and we need to support all those who are bravely putting themselves in danger for all of us. Most of all abundant life comes when we realize that Jesus, the Good Shepherd, walks with us when we are suffering.

Would you walk together with Jesus this week? Please pray for those who are hurting, pray for those who are vulnerable, pray for those who are hungry, pray for those who are broke, pray for your families, and pray that we all have the good sense to socially distance ourselves enough for a full recovery.

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things (Mary Oliver).

Please join us at 9:00 AM, Monday-Friday to pray the office of Morning Prayer. The discipline of praying every day draws our heart deeply to God and one another. When we share our deepest vulnerability with our family of St. John’s, God draws us together. Everyone is suffering right now in one way or another. When we watch the media, we become angry and polarized. When we pray together, we become one heart because Jesus dwells with all of us deep in our soul. It is in our pain and vulnerability that it is easiest to relate to one another. We pray in thanksgiving for the nurses and doctors that are caring for those who are sick. We pray for our police, fire fighters and every essential worker that puts their health on the line for our wellbeing. We give thanks for Coral, Claire, Alex, Jen, Fr. John and for the generosity of our parishioners through this crisis.

Please join us on Sunday morning at 10:00 am. We will be live streaming the Holy Eucharist from St. John’s. Alex will be playing our hymns on the piano in our church. I am sorry that we can’t be together, but I hope our service gives you hope that it won’t be long until we are together again. After the service we will have a time for sharing on our coffee hour. At 11:30, Alex will be playing a concert to benefit local charities helping those in need in Huntington. So far Christine and Alex have raised over $10,000. It really helps to share the link on your Facebook page.

We celebrated Earth Day this week very quietly, but maybe that is the best thing we can do for the environment. Although people are suffering all over the world, the earth is healing through the reduced carbon emission. The air, land, and sea are all on the mend because we have been forced to slow down. Please consider reducing your own carbon footprint when this crisis is over. God can heal the creation from generations of harmful pollution if we could only make this a priority. I can’t think of better stewardship than caring for the earth for our children and the generations to come.

In Christ’s love,

Fr. Duncan 

Alleluia.  Christ is risen.  The Lord is risen indeed.  Alleluia.

 This Easter was different from any Easter I have ever celebrated. The Corona Virus has us locked up in our houses and apartments like the disciples were locked up in the upper room for fear that they would be punished by the ruling religious leaders. Our journey through Lent and Holy Week was possible because of the work of so many from our faith community. Thank you to Alex, the choir, Coral, Fr, John, Claire, Barb, and everyone that helped make the Holy Week and Easter Services a reality. Our church reflected who we are as a congregation.

At morning prayer this week Dr. Nina Grief shared some ways that we could all stay healthy. The first suggestion for those staying home is to stay on a schedule. The second idea is to get some fresh air even if is just for a few minutes. The third idea is to due prayer or meditation every day. For those who are essential workers, please take care of yourselves with good habits of eating, sleep and rest. If you are feeling depressed or overly anxious, please seek professional help. Each of us should try and come to terms with living in uncertainty in the coming months. I urge you to take care of yourself and one another. Be compassionate, kind and generous. 

Join us for Morning Prayer, Bible Study, St. Hilda’s, EFM, Sacred Stories, or at Sunday Eucharist. This is Eastertide – the fifty days from Easter through Pentecost.  Easter is not just a one-day celebration; it is a fifty-day celebration we also call the Easter Season. It is impossible to predict where we will be at the end of May, so live in the moment and focus on your physical and spiritual health.

This week Christine Dore will perform a piano concert on Facebook Live for emergency relief for food and shelter for those in need in Huntington. We have already distributed $9,200.00 through our connection with Huntington Rapid Response. Thanks to Susan, Pat and Heather for their connections in the community to insure that this money gets immediately to those in need. Thanks also to Project Hope with Dan our tenant that is preparing meals every day in our kitchen.

These fifty days hold special meaning as an entire season to intentionally celebrate new life in the resurrection of Jesus.  The friends of Jesus arrived at the tomb on that Easter morning and found that his tomb was empty.  The body of Jesus was not there because he had risen in victory to overcome death.  That is reason to celebrate!

Through our life in Jesus Christ, we too are raised from the dead to a new life; not just raised to the victory of salvation in eternal life but raised to victory in this life in the here and now.  The negative and dead ways of living and thinking no longer have control over us.  We are raised to live a new life of hope.  The resurrection offers us a new way to think and live in this world.  The resurrection gives us the way to overcome those defeating ways of life that slowly destroy faith and hope.  The First Letter of Peter says it well, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!  By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”  (I Peter 1:3)

Continue to experience the awe and wonder of the resurrection this Eastertide.  Go for walks and take up new practices like yoga or meditation. Zoom in to the celebrations of the Holy Eucharist and Morning Prayer. Stay connected as a community of faith and look after those who are anxious, lonely, or afraid. We are Easter People at St. John’s because we choose a new life in Christ. Please stay safe and be the church to those who are vulnerable and afraid.

In Christ’s love, 
Fr. Duncan

First and last alike, receive your reward.

Rich and poor, rejoice together!

Conscientious and lazy, celebrate the day!

You who have kept the fast, and you who have not,

rejoice, this day, for the table is bountifully spread!

Feast royally, for the calf is fatted.

Let no one go away hungry.

Partake, all, of the banquet of faith.

Enjoy the bounty of the Lord's goodness!

Let no one lament persistent failings,

for forgiveness has risen from the grave.

Let no one fear death,

for the death of our Saviour has set us free.

—John Chrysostom

This week will be very different from how we have celebrated Holy Week at St. John’s in the past. On Palm Sunday, we will have Morning Prayer at 8:00AM and we will celebrate the Palm Sunday liturgy at 10:00. Please grab a few branches from your yard so you can participate in the blessing of the palms and branches. There will be a rehearsal at 4PM on Saturday April 4th for our children, youth, and young adults that are doing the Passion of our Lord, Jesus Christ on Sunday. Alex will be playing the piano from the church. At 11:00ish, we will have a coffee hour hosted by Claire. Alex will perform at 11:30 on Facebook Live. Donations will help those who are poor and vulnerable in Huntington. Last week we collected over $3ooo.  Alex will also be leading a Taizé service at 5:30 PM. Please join him for beautiful music, prayers and Taizé chants. Monday-Friday, we will have morning prayer at 9:00 AM. In fact, we will have morning prayer on Zoom from now on. Tuesday we will have bible study at 11:00 AM. We will study Mark 4:35-41. In case you have not noticed, Jesus has been present during this whole crisis and will “Still the storm.”

Palm Sunday and Easter are the core liturgical observances of the Christian year because we re-member what God has done, is doing, and will do for us. This is also the time when many people who have been away, come back to church. I urge you to call friends and parishioners that have not been joining us regularly and invite to observe Holy Week with us. Please tell them that our hope is in the Lord, nothing can separate us from the love of God and  “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16). This is a real comfort to those who believe.

Maundy Thursday is a simple service in the tradition of the last supper. The Gospel from John is read and we wash our hands this year as a sign of our times, our servanthood, and our love of one another. Please have a bowl with soapy water and a towel ready for the hand washing. We will also have an agape feast and we will bless wine, bread, and dried fruit, not in a sacramental way, but in a manner very similar to our seder meal. The service ends with a dramatic stripping of the altar at St. John’s and we begin a prayer vigil through the night. Please take one hour and pray for our community, your family, your friends, hospital workers, and all essential workers

Good Friday is a somber reminder of the depth of God’s love for us. We pray at the foot of the cross with Mary and John. We pray in silence and ponder the incredible love of God in the act of Jesus death on the cross for our sins. Fr. John’s will pray a series of meditations and Alex will play many Good Friday hymns as we all venerate the cross and ponder what occurred as Christ suffered on a cross for our sins. We will have stations of the cross at 7:00 PM and a Good Friday service on Zoom at 7:30 PM.

Easter Sunday is a celebration of Christ’s resurrection and the hope that Christ gives to each of us. All are welcome to share with us in his resurrection. I will celebrate the Holy Eucharist from St. John’s by myself at 10:00. Alex has prepared beautiful music with the choir. There will be a coffee hour after the service. We will proclaim the resurrection.

Alleluia! Christ is risen.

The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

These services help us to see ourselves as part of a community baptized into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I urge you to come to tune into as many Holy Week services as you are able, to invite guests, and to celebrate in a new way, the Resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

In Christ’s love,

Rev. Duncan A. Burns

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go” (John 11:38-43)

This past two weeks have been very difficult for many of us. Some are sick, some have lost jobs, some have closed their businesses, and some of us feel like we have been in a cave for four days. St. John’s will continue to do Morning Prayer each day this week at 9:00 AM.  On Tuesday we will have Bible Study at 11:00 AM, Stations of the Cross at 5:30 PM, and Evening Prayer at 6:00 PM. We will celebrate Palm Sunday at 8:00 AM and 10:00 AM on April 5th, Maundy Thursday at 7:30 PM on April 9th, Good Friday at 12-3 PM and 7:30 PM on April 10th, and Easter on April 12th. We hope to throw in a few surprises also. The church will be closed, but our hearts will be open and Jesus will Rise. If you would like to participate in any of the services, please email me at dburns@stjohnshuntington.org.

On Palm Sunday we will re-member the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem without palms, a beautifully decorated altar, or a procession. We will celebrate Palm Sunday with a reading of the Passion of our Lord. If Jesus can raise Lazarus from the dead, he can be present in the Word of God.

The services of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter are referred to as the Paschal Triduum. They are the core liturgical observances of the Christian year because we re-member what God has done, is doing and will do for us. They are also the time of year when many people who have wondered away from God, come back to church.

Maundy Thursday service begins online at 7:30 pm. The Gospel from John is read and we usually wash each other’s feet as a sign of our servanthood and love of one another. The service usually ends with a dramatic stripping of the altar.

Good Friday is a somber reminder of the depth of God’s love for us. Our first service is at 12:00 noon. We pray at the foot of the cross with Mary and John. We pray in silence and ponder the incredible love of God in the act of Jesus death on the cross for our sins. At 7:00 PM, we follow the Stations of the Cross and at 7:30 PM we have a choral service.

Easter Sunday is a celebration of Christ’s resurrection and the hope that Christ gives to each of us. We sing one of our favorite hymns, “Jesus Christ is Risen Today.” These services help us to see ourselves as part of a community baptized into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Join us at all of the Triduum services and invite friends, family, newcomers, and guests to join us. Please re-member that God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

In Christ’s love,

Fr. Duncan

The Bishop of Long Island is directing all of our parishes not to resume public worship and events until at least May 17th. This means that we will not have Holy Week and Easter at St. John’s as originally planned. This will require us to connect differently than we have in the past. We are facilitating a virtual celebration of all services until at least May 17th. This will pose both challenges and opportunities. We will need to be creative and we will need to learn to do church differently for a few months.

Every weekday morning, we will pray together on Zoom with Morning Prayer. We will use Mission St. Clare on our phones to follow along with zoom on our computer. Please mute the sound unless you are reading the scripture or praying. It really helps to say the words out loud.

On Tuesdays we will have a Zoom bible study at 11:00 AM, Stations of the Cross will be streamed live at 5:30 PM and we will have a Zoom Evening Prayer at 6:00.

Sundays we will have Morning Prayer Rite I via Facebook Live at 8:00 AM, and Holy Eucharist Rite II will be live streamed at 10:00 AM on Facebook Live. Alex will be playing piano and Noelle and Leslie will be singing solos and duets.  

Our primary focus is the same as always, loving and caring for one another in our parish and our community. Claire Mis will be gathering the names of the vulnerable and sick for our daily prayers and we are reaching out to all those in need with delivery of food and medicine. Laundry Love is still providing money for laundry in our community. I am working with Pete on organizing the AA group. We are getting food cards for the homeless from our ECW. I ask everyone to call a few members of the congregation every day. Many of us are experiencing job loss, loneliness, isolation and anxiety because of this pandemic. Our witness and ministry is needed now more than ever.

Please know that we are working every day to keep in touch, to pray with you and for you, to connect you through Zoom and live streaming, and to encourage you to deepen your relationship with Jesus Christ. We will make you aware of opportunities to serve in the community as they arise.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God. This is a time to listen to the medical professionals, avoid all contact with others, and wash our hands thoroughly. Please look after each other, be kind to everyone, and spend some quality time with your pets. My dog just knows when things are tough and teaches me to focus on the present and not worry about the future. Before we know it, we will all be back together.

Hang in there and know that God loves you deeply and will get us through this. If you need pastoral support, please reach out via email, text or phone. We are here for you. If you know of someone else in need of support, please let us know.

In Christ’s love,                                                                            

Fr. Duncan