Live Stream Sermon This Sunday

My friends,

As news and new information continue to come to us with stunning rapidity, St. Luke’s Church continues to adjust our plans accordingly. Governor DeWine has banned public gatherings (there are religious exemptions) of over 100 people and people everywhere have begun to practice safe social distancing (Social distancing is maintaining a distance of 3 feet between people. This helps keep contagion down). Meanwhile, it is still my responsibility as your priest to offer God’s grace in whatever practical way that I possibly can to all of you. So with that in mind, here is a new way we are going to be the church in the midst of COVID-19.

1) We will have one service this weekend on Sunday at 10 am- Clearly, we are not expecting huge numbers. And I cannot stress this enough... if you are not comfortable being here or feel at all uneasy about coming to church, it’s more than ok to stay at home. I understand your concerns. We will continue to offer Holy Communion this Sunday, albeit without offering the common chalice. 

2)  We will live stream our service so that you can worship with us at home-  While some of you might feel silly watching a service of Holy Eucharist at home, please know that our God is able to work through any and all circumstances to offer love and grace. And I believe that being a part of our worshiping community online will be a holy moment. We offer streaming via Youtube at http://bit.ly/3aW3zQS beginning at 9:55 am on Sunday. We will also share the link on our St. Luke’s website.

3)  I do not want to lose track of any of you during this particular time-  I am still your priest and I am still available to talk. If you would like a weekly phone call from me just to stay connected, please email me at frmichaelralph@stlukesgranville.org. I will make sure to call you and to pray with you and to listen to you!

4)  Continue to watch our Facebook page and watch your emails for news from St. Luke’s-  We are all doing the best we can to keep up with the information we have and to relay our plans to all of you. In closing, I would like to reiterate this is, indeed, a complicated Lenten season. But it need not be a lost season. We are still able to draw closer to God and each other through prayer, kindness, and reconciliation. Please continue to be prayerful and know that our God continues to work in our midst. And I will leave you with a meditation that I read today by Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky.

Before you scroll down to the practical details, I’d like to take half a minute to reflect on the human, religious dimension of this present hour. One of the brand new terms that has entered our daily conversation is “social distancing”. It is shorthand, as we know very well, for the practical physical precautions that we all need to and must take in order to protect ourselves and others. I’d humbly suggest though, that we use the term itself sparingly, if at all. Language is a powerful shaper of thinking. And the very last thing we need right now is a mindset of mutual distancing. We actually need to be thinking in the exact opposite way. Every hand that we don’t shake must become a phone call that we place.  Every embrace that we avoid must become a verbal expression of warmth and concern.Every inch and every foot that we physically place between ourselves and another, must become a thought as to how we might be of help to that other, should the need arise. It is obvious that “distancing”, if misplaced or misunderstood, will take its toll not only upon our community’s strength and resiliancy, but upon the very integrity and meaning of our spiritual commitment. And who knows if it was for this time that we have committed ourselves to walk in God’s ways.  
 
Be safe, be prayerful, be simple, be merciful. And may you know and feel that you are beloved of God. And remember, I am only an email or a phone call away. God bless you and I will continue to talk to all of you.
 
Faithfully,
Fr. Michael