From the Rector

Dear Friends in Christ,

Having released a summary of the changing COVID protocols earlier this week, the reaction I predicted would happen, did. The first email I got lauded the decision. The second I got thought it risky and too soon. That’s been ministry during COVID in a nutshell!

The Vestry’s decision came after much deliberation. It also came after we received recommendations from Saint Philip’s Health Cabinet and the Regathering Committee. Each of those bodies has been reviewing evidence, monitoring local conditions, and looking at outcomes nationwide. I am exceedingly grateful to each for their faithful work.

It has not been easy work. There are so many factors at play and so many different opinions about risk, faithful attendance, online participation, vaccines, masks, and more. The work has been stressful at times, too often thankless, and demanded thoughtfulness, faith, charity, and more.

The changes we have made are not permanent. The situation around us will improve or it will not. We will adjust as needed. Until now, in recent months, we have exercised pandemic protocols that have been at the more restrictive end of the protocols used at churches across the diocese.

However, we have also been determined to make decisions based on the advice and evidence we receive from professionals. We haven’t always been able to follow every recommendation as we have to balance a range of needs and demands. However, each step has been taken with deliberation and prayerful thoughtfulness.

Our intention is to resume welcoming outside groups back to campus later in the spring and to seek a return to normalcy in the months that follow. Of course, we’ve said that before! Each time we’ve made a plan, some variant or some wave has come. If one comes again, we will be ready to respond. What we’ve learned the last two years has made us nimble and ready to react to changing circumstances.

We will continue to offer the worship livestream so anyone can participate from home. We will also seek to offer formation and other opportunities in hybrid ways so folks can continue to participate even if the risk of being in person is too high—for whatever reason.

We’ve sought to be as responsible as possible throughout this pandemic. It has not been easy. It has changed the church and we will continue to deal with those changes in the months and years ahead. My desire, when the pandemic began, was to offer something daily for folks to be able to connect with the church online. My belief was that the church needed to be more present in people’s daily lives, not less so in trying times. So we offered two services a day online through most of it and Bible studies, classes, and more were also offered.

My conviction remains the same: we need to be more present, not less, in these challenging days. No decision, and my email inbox reflects this, will be met with universal acclaim! However, I hope you’ll rest assured that no decision here has been made without deliberation, debate, and a determination to do what is best for the congregation. 

That we’ve managed to get here without rancorous difference over this pandemic is a gift from God. It’s proof to me that Saint Philip’s is a place gathered in love, transformed by grace, and always ready to serve.

Thank you for your patience, prayerfulness, generosity, and calm through this all. You’ve inspired me with your faithful resilience and made me truly believe that the Holy Spirit called us together for just this time.

With love,

—Fr Robert