The peace of the Lord be with you!!

What a different Sunday we celebrated 2 days ago! Some of you spent quiet time at home or in the garden, some prayed our 10am prayer, others joined services on line at other churches, some imagined a service in our own little church. Whatever way you celebrated the Sabbath, I hope you felt connected to your parish family at St. Mary’s! 

An update on my household: I came down with a much milder version of whatever bug Jim got sick with on Saturday night. Both of us are feeling much better today and had a phone visit with the doctor this morning. We are both basically just really tired. So I’ve officially declared our home – “The Naphouse”!  We are quarantined until April 5.  

Even though these are extraordinary times, we still have to follow Safe Church protocols. Especially in light of the increased efforts to hack into people’s personal data. So that’s why we can’t share the parish list around.  So please, when you email a number of parishioners, make sure you use the BCC (blind copy) function. If you have a message you would like to go out to everyone in the parish, just send it along to me and I will pass it on for you. There is also a St. Mary’s FaceBook page that you are welcome to join. Here is the link to it!  https://www.facebook.com/StMarysNanoose/

Do you know about the Kanopy?  It’s the free movie service provided by the Vancouver Island Regional Library (VIRL)Simply go on to https://virl.kanopy.com/You need your library card and a password to get started. And then you have access to an incredible number of free movies. I particularly was moved by a short one called “Sing” but look around and enjoy!

We had so many visitors to the St. Mary’s website on Sunday that there was a period of time when it was impossible to access the website. I’m glad to see people engaging with that resource. Let me know of other sites, church services, daily prayers, etc., that you have found helpful on line and I’ll share them with the parish. 

God bless you all,
Stay well, stay home, and stay hopeful.
Selinde