Our Lent Table Practice

Friends and parishioners at Church of the Covenant:

I know I haven't posted anything since last Lent. 

Times being what they are, I'm driven to the written word again.

When we were last together as a congregation on Sunday March 1, I came to you without two good legs to stand on. A torn meniscus had taken away a pain-free way to stand, and so I preached from a stool while the talented elders led the rest of the liturgy. We had communion and began our observation of Lent for 2020. Our theme for Lent is “An open table.” We planned to have communion every week.  The second week of Lent, you were again invited to the Table and reminded of how truly big that table is. You heard about the ministry in South Sudan from Leisa Wagstaff and celebrated communion with the basket that she had sent us from South Sudan several years ago.

How different it all is now.

My inbox is flooded with advice and communications from everyone I’ve ever bought something from and a few I haven’t. There is too much COVID-19 advice. Right now the whole situation gives me an eerie feeling, like being deployed to a disaster area without the usual knowledge that I can go home sometime soon. My “spiritual care in disasters” habits are kicking in, but this time it’s to focus on my own backyard—Church of the Covenant.

And so we will, along with many other churches, we will attempt to gather with the aid of electronic communications. [See below for links to several other churches that are meeting online]

On Sunday morning we will attempt to gather around a table, but this time it will be a virtual table. We’re still trying to iron out the technological challenges of gathering in cyberspace. Some of us are more technologically challenged than other.

But we are still the Body of Christ, and so we will try to gather. Use this link https://zoom.us/j/743194520 [corrected from a prior email.] if you want to join online at 11am on Sunday, March 22. The link will change on subsequent Sundays.

Telephone works, too. +1 301 715 8592 US
The meeting ID is 743-194-520. You don't need a participant ID.

I’m going to prepare for Sunday by taking a Sabbath break from electronic communications on Saturday.

SERVICES FOR MARCH 22, 2020
National Presbyterian Church
Type: live stream on the NPC web site
Link to service: http://nationalpres.org/live
Date and time of service: Sundays at 11:00 a.m.
All recorded Live Stream Worship Services from NPC can be found at http://nationalpres.org/sermons

Georgetown Presbyterian Church, Washington, DC
Type: Facebook
Link to service: facebook.com/gtownpres
Date and time of service: March 22, 2020, 11:00 a.m.

Old Presbyterian Meeting House, Alexandria, VA
Type: YouTube recorded worship on website
Link: www.opmh.org
Date available: Sundays starting at 7am

Heritage Presbyterian Church, Alexandria, VA
Link: www.heritagechurchva.org/
(click on YouTube button at the top of the page)

Neighbors in Arlington with Virtual Gatherings

St Andrews Episcopal
  ZOOM meeting through website: https://standrewsarlington.org/