Hello beloved parishioners!

I’m sending love and prayers north to you from our hideaway in Shawnigan Lake where the frogs are courting all day long, and where there is snow on the mountain behind our place, and daffodils waving in the breeze. It’s quiet here! Jim and I continue to recover. So we are a good news story. We were confirmed by Public Health as having Covid-19 after Jim was tested on the weekend.  They continue to track our well-being daily but we are well over the worst of it. We never had problems with our lungs so we have been blessed with a milder case. The lingering symptom is fatigue so we are resting a lot. Jim is back teaching via the internet from home. All of the students are home around the world with their families; there are no students on campus. 

We are so blessed to have colleagues of Jim’s bring us groceries and supplies. We are being creative with our meals as neither of us has the sense of smell or taste! So we agree without hesitation – all our meals are delicious! 

My sister emailed me this which I find very compelling: 

“In 1820, Keats was quarantined on a boat in the harbour as typhus raged in Naples. He aspired to what he called Negative Capability, when one is “capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after facts and reasons.”

Attached please find your readings for April 2020 and a lovely poem. And as suggested by one parishioner, the Birthday/Anniversary dates for April are listed below. It makes more sense to have the dates in advance so we can pray especially for the person’s/people’s on their special day!

April Birthdays…Give a “shout out” to them!

Birthdays
John O’B                                 April 2
Larry T                                     April 7
Patti K                                      April 13
Graham F                                April 17
Michael Luis Q                        April 17
Don N                                      April 22
Sher C                                      April 27 

Anniversary
Don & Pat N                            April 20
Lynne D/Graham F                  April 30  

All the Anglican churches in the Diocese have been invited to ring their bell(s) every Wednesday at noon in support of our front-line workers.  If you’re in Nanoose, come out onto your porch and maybe you’ll hear Elaine ringing the bells for her first time!! (Thanks Elaine!) And then join in yourselves with your own bells or pots and pans.  

It’s important to balance TV/radio news with the Good News! Otherwise, we get a warped idea of what is happening.  The opportunity for deepening our faith and honing our compassionate action is huge right now.  This is the time to pray, reflect and reach out in love to others and in this way, we will come out of this time, a different people.  I hear wonderful stories every day about acts of kindness, about relationships that are being healed/deepened, but, at the same time I hear how stress, fear and worry are taking their toll.  

Let’s pray for the children and teenagers who are at home with parents who are not able to contain their stress and worry about their homes, incomes and careers. Sometimes hard times bring us together, other times, they bring strain and violence into a home.            

Bless our children, bless each one,           
They are our daughters, they are our sons,           
They are Yours and ours,           
And they are precious.           
Bless them, Lord.

As you may know, I am a lover of quotes. Here are a few I think are appropriate for these times:

"The life I touch for good or ill will touch another life, and that in turn another, until who knows where the trembling stops or in what far place my touch will be felt."                                                                                    
Frederick Buechner 

"If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul."                                                                           
Rabbi Harold Kushner 

People are sending me all sorts of comics, humourous video clips, poems, and information videos/posts. I can’t keep on top of it all!! Attached please find some of the offerings from your fellow parishioners.  Apologies to those whose contributions I’ve lost! 

For those of you who went to the St. Paul’s website on Sunday expecting to tune into a virtual service, apologies. I didn’t get notice until Sunday morning that they would only be posting a sermon and bulletin. I will make other options for Sunday service available to you in an update by the end of the week. 

From St. Teresa of Avila -

Let nothing upset you,
Let nothing startle you.
All things pass.
God does not change.
Patience wins all it seeks.
Whoever has God lacks nothing
God alone is enough. 

I love this prayer. And….. I need other people! I’m not on the same level as St. Teresa, that’s for sure. So I strive to rest in God, and at the same time, I give thanks for my family at St. Mary’s!

God bless you all,
Stay safe, and seek the joy in every day.
In Christ,
Selinde

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