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This letter was sent to St. Mary of Grace parishioners on Friday, March 13.
One of our values is to care for the most vulnerable in our communities and with the growing number of COVID-19 cases, it is becoming increasingly clear that an important goal is to "flatten the curve" and slow the spread of the virus through social distancing in order to decrease the possibility of overburdening our hospitals so that those in need can get care. Based on this, we've made the decision to move our worship to an all online/phone format beginning this Sunday, March 15. We will hold Sunday Mass online at 4:00 PM. There will be no in-person worship this week or in future weeks until conditions permit. Starting on Monday, March 16 we will also be holding a "Check-in and Prayer" service online every weekday evening at 9:00 PM as another way for people to connect with the parish community when we can not be together in person. This will be a brief time be with each other and spend some quiet time with God at the end of the day. We will be using the Zoom teleconference platform. It's easy to use from a computer, tablet, or phone. With a computer, tablet, or smartphone: Just click on this link https://zoom.us/j/354928627 If it’s the first time you’re using Zoom you may be prompted to download a launcher app. With a regular telephone: Dial this number: 1 929 205 6099 US. When prompted, please enter this meeting ID: 354 928 627 Please plan to log on 5-10 minutes before the start time so that you can establish a connection. As always, Tim and I will be available by phone and email. If you have any prayer or Mass requests or just need to talk, please do contact us. We will be holding you all in prayer. Have a Blessed Lent and we will see you online, Mtr. Lyngine and Bp. Tim
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Some pictures from Operation Tuna Salad in August, including Bella (honorary mascot for OTS)! Our next meeting is September 13 and we're in need of some extra help since some of the usual folks will be out of town. The evening begins at 6:30 PM and we usually finish by 8:00 PM. Operation Tuna Salad is organized by the Hunger Task Force of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County (UUCDC) and provides meals for 150 people without homes at the Life Center in Upper Darby. If you'd like to help out, please send a message or let Mtr. Lyngine know in person.      A special thanks to Michael H. and the work he does with his company in support of the LGBT community! Thank you for inviting us to march in the Philly Pride parade! It was a beautiful day in so many ways.    We spent the evening making enough tuna salad to feed 150 folks without homes at the Life Center of Delaware County followed by some ice cream. Thanks to the Hunger Task Force at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County and the amazing Sue Gibbons who make this possible. To quote Sue "Because of your work, a lot of people will eat tomorrow." We couldn't have said it better. Thank you for inviting us to be a part of this amazing work. Interested in joining? We'll be making tuna salad again on July 12 from 6:30-8:00 PM.  A very special thanks to Hector for sharing prayer cards and books with the parish to help people pray and grow closer to God.This is just a small sample of the cards.  Congratulations to our newest priest in the Independent Catholic Christian Church, Fr. Dave Wood!   Given Bp. Tim's love of Dr Pepper, we couldn't resist posting this bit of Lenten humor! How has your Lent been going so far?  Ashes Ever wonder where the ashes for Ash Wednesday come from? They're from dried palms from Palm Sunday of the previous year. Folks from the parish bring their dried palms and we burn the palms at the end of Mass on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday. Then we use the ashes for our regular Ash Wednesday service and for Ashes-to-Go. Thanks to Michael Hudson for lighting the fire and making sure it was safely out afterwards! That's Mtr. Lyngine watching the smoke as the last of the embers go out.    Silence and Prayer Some glimpses of the quiet spaces from our first parish Lenten Retreat and Day of Reflection. We created spaces for silence and prayer, where everyone had a chance to listen to the "still small voice" of God as the season of Lent begins. Everyone helped set up and we had the rosary, Lectio Divina, the Examen, Stations of the Cross, and meditative prayer. Special thanks to Patrick and Tom for leading morning and evening prayer, and to Elise for bringing in three books for folks to consider for the parish Lent education/spirituality series.     Fridays Every 3rd Friday of the month we have a house mass in University City. Hector changed the colors from green to purple for Lent, make this a wonderful space for quiet prayer this season.   We celebrated the Feast of the Presentation/Candlemas this Sunday and blessed candles as part of the tradition! In addition to candles for use at the parish, everyone was invited to bring candles from home that they would like to have blessed.  |
