22nd
March 2020
Fourth
Sunday of Lent (Mothering Sunday)
Letter
No.2
Fr
Andrew writes:
It is clear that this is
going to be a long haul. Just seven days ago it was perfectly possible for us
to meet to celebrate the Eucharist, albeit with the necessary precautions of
hand washing, receiving Holy Communion in one kind and no physical sharing of
the Peace. Now public worship has been suspended altogether and we have entered
the reality of social distancing and isolation. It is bewildering and upsetting;
but it is right and part of our social responsibility as citizens.
Social distancing is a difficult
concept and it’s difficult to do. Yet I hold on to the deep reality that social distancing does not diminish fellowship within the Communion of Saints.
Catholic Christianity has a most vivid sense of the connectedness of all the
baptised with the saints, ‘therefore with angels and archangels and all the
company of heaven [the saints] we praise proclaim your great and glorious name,
evermore praising you…’ We are not alone in the fellowship of the Church.
This crisis will test the
mettle of the Church in how we sustain worship in adversity; it will measure
the depth of our fellowship. It poses questions to us: how do we express ourselves
as One Body in our worship? how does my prayer life sustain me in times when things
are bleak? how well connected am I in our church? do I know needs and gifts of
others?
I am pleased to say that already
those who are in a position to have offered their help in doing shopping for
people, delivering it (safely) and collecting prescriptions. In one day last
week I made 38 phone calls to ascertain the spiritual and practical needs of
people who are on our Minster contact list, and I will be ringing more people
this week. It was so gratifying to hear people’s voices and so many in good
spirits and speaking of the support and offers of help they have had from
neighbours and family. But as time goes on no doubt spirits will flag. That is
when we will find our faith and hope becoming rocky perhaps, but also a time to
find that ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble’
(Psalm 46.1).
Today is Mothering Sunday
and what a heart-rending day it is this year. A day that celebrates God’s gift
of life that we received through our mothers and the relationships we share, in
our families and church family, also highlights just what social distancing
will mean. Our normal patterns and routines have been totally turned on their
heads. This Mothering Sunday I am mindful of the longstanding reflection on the
Blessed Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Sorrows, whose heart was pierced with pain.
Her tears join ours at the moment.
Our journey through Lent continues.
I am indebted to Stephen Willmer for reminding me of the origin of the word ‘quarantine’.
It comes from Latin quadraginta ‘forty’
and links directly to Christ’s forty days and forty nights of seclusion in the
wilderness. We are in a desert ourselves today. On Ash Wednesday we could not
have imagined the sort of Lent we would be forced into this year. We will not
be able to gather for Easter this year, but still we will walk together in
spirit through the desolation of Holy Week, and the Passion (suffering) of
Jesus Christ and the emptiness of Holy Saturday. But the Easter dawn will
break. That day will remind us, even if we don’t feel upbeat, that there is a
deep, enduring hope in the triumph of life over death which we can hold on to.
So what can we say in the
face of all this. Worship – Morning Prayer, the Eucharist and Prayer during the
Day - continues to be offered in the church. I am absolutely committed to continuing
doing this, for as long as it is possible: that is my duty and joy as a priest
for you and with you. I am realistic enough to know that the time may come when
I can’t do that. When that comes I will be praying at home, like you, all the
more fervently for our parish, nation and world in the face of this virus.
With thanks for our fellowship
in the Gospel.
Fr Andrew
Do remember you can
connect further through the Minster Website for information and links www.croydonminster.org , via the Minster
Facebook (where you can see acts of worship streamed) and Twitter @croydonminster
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