Your wardens, along with Fr. Geoff and the Pastoral Care team, continue to meet weekly via video and phone to see how we can best serve the needs of our parish community in these difficult times. We will continue to send updates via email and post information on the All Saints’ Facebook page and parish website.

Many thanks to Arleane Ralph for creating a new page on our website labelled Together Apart. Here you will find a weekly Sunday service prepared by Fr. Geoff for you to follow at home, on-line prayer and worship resources, etc.

If you would like to be added to our email list, there is now a link to the email sign up form on the Together Apart page on the website. Thanks to the magic of our web designer, if you complete it you will automatically be added to the mailing list.

If you are interested in signing up for auto-debit (even temporarily in these troubled times), a pre-authorized giving form will soon be available, also on our Together Apart webpage. Despite the many closures, the bills still find their way into our mailbox. Thank you to the many folks who have donated via the website “donate button” or who have mailed a cheque.

We are working hard to keep our parish family connected and exploring ways to see if we can live stream services on Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Watch this space for more information. We are also reviewing the parish lists to see who among our parish family may be isolated and in need of a friendly phone call or someone to shop for them.

There is always good news and kindness amongst all the negatives. Our Deacon’s Cupboard food bank is continuing to operate thanks to a group of dedicated volunteers (with new procedures in place to keep both volunteers and clients safe.) And just the other day the Salvation Army told us they had “a few things for your foodbank.” Well, the “few things” completely filled Roy’s truck! Don’t forget, if you want to donate to the food bank, we are having a “drive though” donation day on April 8^th between 10 and noon. Come to the parking lot, pop your trunk and a volunteer will take your donation.

Blessings to all. Keep the Faith. Wash your Hands. Pray for each other.

Your wardens, Roy, Sheila, Tim and Karen

Welcome

Good morning everyone and welcome to our first Sunday Service of the COVID-19 pandemic, which prevents us from meeting together physically in church. I hope you find this mixture of prayers, readings, and sermon a meaningful substitute and that you will feel able to worship God in your home knowing that other members of the All Saints’ family will be joining you. I realize not all of us will be worshipping at the same time but at least we will all be following the same service. As I enter my 6^th day of total isolation following my return from Australia last Monday, I pray that all of you will be able to feel God’s love and presence as we all go through this period of separation.

Collect

Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that He may live in us, and we in Him, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Readings

• Ephesians 5:8-14
• The Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to John (Chapter 9, verses 1-41)

Sermon

May my words be in the name of The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. Amen.

The entire passage in our Gospel this morning deals with blindness – but strangely enough, it is not the blindness of the man born blind that is central to the passage, rather it is the blindness of those around him and, most especially, the blindness of the religious teachers and authorities which forms the focus of the reading. So, what are we to make of the story of the man born blind and what meaning does it have for us being the self-proclaimed religious people of our generation? Well, it is a very rich passage and today we can only look at two things. My thumbs and fingers would ache even more if we looked at everything in the story!

The first thing I would like you to grasp is this – while all of us sin and fall short of the glory of God, not all afflictions, perhaps not even the vast majority of afflictions, can be blamed on the sin of the person who must bear that affliction or – as in the case of a genetic defect or a birth accident like that the man born blind must have had – upon the sin of the parents. GOD DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY. While some afflictions obviously are the result of one kind of sin or another – for example, someone driving drunk may have an accident in which they are crippled for life or in which they cripple someone else for life – for the most part, many other afflictions can’t be blamed on someone, nor should we try to blame them on someone.

This is the second point I want to make. Jesus answers the question about who sinned that the man was born blind by saying, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.” He then healed the man with mud and spit and the touch of his precious hand. THIS IS HOW GOD OPERATES. This is what Jesus is about. This is what He wants us to do now in this generation. He has come to give us relief from our afflictions, from our sickness and from our worries. At this time of worry from the Coronavirus all around the world we can do no better than to follow the words of this great revival hymn:

Amen.

Prayers

God our Father, in your unfailing love and goodness, hear us as we bring our prayers for the world and for all people to you. In this period of Lent we come to you aware of our unreadiness for the enormity of the Easter message, that Christ suffered and died for us and was yet raised in glorious victory. Grant us healing in our souls, Lord, and in the souls of all those searching for meaning in their lives and for all who are blinded by the sin and darkness of this secular world and can see no way out of their physical and mental suffering.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayers.

We pray for all those who worry about the Coronavirus crisis and struggle with their loneliness and being forced to stay in isolation. Give them courage and hope and we pray for the future, certain in the knowledge that you will continue to guide us and guard us throughout all things. Support us through these difficult times and through ill health, doubt or trouble, and fulfill your promise to be with us until the end of the age.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayers.

We pray for all those who are sick and infirm, naming those in hearts who need your love and healing touch at this time. We pray for those who are grieving the loss of a loved one. Bless them and surround them with you love.

The Lord’s Prayer

The Grace

May the grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ, The Love of God and The Fellowship of The Holy Spirit be with us all now and evermore. Amen

To begin, we are thrilled that Father Geoff and Dianne have returned to us safely from Australia, and we encourage you to read Fr. Geoff’s pastoral message to you and to all those who are seeking comfort by visiting our parish website.

As for temporal matters, here is an update on recent activity, as well as some answers to questions we’ve been receiving from parish members.

GIVINGS:
We have had some questions from parish members regarding offertory.  Though Sunday services have been curtailed, our financial commitments continue and we are still working to provide ministry, outreach, and pastoral care, albeit by new means. So, we are thankful to you for taking steps to maintain or increase your givings. Here are ways to give:

• • If you are not currently on auto-debit, you can contact Maria at the office and she will email you an auto-debit form. Auto-debit can be discontinued or adjusted at any time. 
  • Mail is still being picked up at the church office.  Please feel free to drop off a cheque in the mailbox outside the parking lot doors or mail a cheque to the church (All Saints Church, 300 Dundas St. W., Whitby, L1N 2M5). Please do not leave cash in the church mail box.
  • You can choose to donate to All Saints online.  There is a DONATE tab on our homepage or you can simply donate to All Saints now.  If you wish to direct your funds to a specific Ministry, you may include this information in the “Message” field.

WORSHIP SERVICES:

Sunday Services continue to be suspended at all churches in the Diocese. Even though we are not able to attend services in person at this time, a number of local churches are offering online opportunities for worship. We will be putting a select list of links to these online opportunities on our website shortly. (In the meantime, St. James Cathedral is livestreaming from Facebook on Sundays at 11am and the Diocese has a Diocesan COVID-19 update page has pastoral letters from the Bishop and a full list of live and taped services as well.)

As it is unclear whether our Easter Services will go ahead, this year we will not be accepting donations for Easter Memorial Flowers.

DEACON’S CUPBOARD:
Our Food Bank remains open and continues to serve families in Whitby. In order to replenish our stocks, please feel free to donate funds to the foodbank. (Use the “Message” field to direct your gift to the parish foodbank.) We will be having a food drop-off in our parking lot on Wednesday, April 8 between 10am and noon.  This will be a drive-through experience only.  No one is expected to leave their vehicles.  We will have volunteers to take donations directly from your car. (Please continue to nourish your prayer life with our Lenten prayer observance in support of the food bank.)

LAY PASTORAL CARE:
Our pastoral team has been checking in with our more vulnerable parishioners.  If you or someone you know from our parish requires grocery shopping or prescription pickup, send a message to the pastoral team by calling the church office or by email and we will do our best to lend assistance.

During this time, your Wardens are meeting weekly with clergy and the pastoral team.  If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to us through the contact page.

We wish you all well during these difficult times.

Wardens Roy, Sheila, Karen, and Tim

NOTE: If you wish to receive updates from our leadership by parish email, please complete a Contact Information Form. You can scan or email it to the church office or drop it off in the mail bx. We also have a FAQ page which may answer any questions you have about the form and our email list use.

Greetings to all of you at All Saints!

I am writing to you from my home in Whitby on Day 5 of the 14 Day period of self isolation following my early return from holiday in Australia due to this dreadful pandemic. It was a difficult journey home. But it seems both Dianne and I have survived intact and we are feeling “fit as fleas” as far as jet lag will permit us! We are now doing our best not to go stir crazy.

Whilst it is difficult for me, I realize that many of you are facing far more worries than I am and I want to encourage you as much as possible. It is a time of great worry for our country, our town, our family and ourselves. Suddenly, out of the blue, we are faced with our own mortality and this is hard for all of us. The natural thing to do in these circumstances is to meet up with family and friends, chat with our neighbours over the fence and for us as Christians come to church on Sundays. Unfortunately, we have been either advised or legally mandated to do none of these things. For those already shut in on their own or in nursing homes this is a double whammy. For those of you at All Saints’ in that position we are doing our best to reach out to you. I can assure you that you are at the centre of my prayers and I will be in touch with you individually in the coming days and weeks.

I met with the Wardens and Deacons yesterday by video (see the leadership team March 21 update). We are aware that all of us at All Saints’ are missing each other and our communal worship of God and His Son Jesus Christ. With that in mind I encourage you all to pray for each other and bear with us as we try to put together some form of online service for you all. I find that at times like this God seems to be much nearer as we come to Him in prayer.

I am presently reading a book entitled God and Churchill, which deals with the much unheralded spiritual life of that great man. When he was planning to meet with Franklin Roosevelt in Cairo, Egypt during the war, the American President sent a cable warning they might be exposed to air attacks by the German Luftwaffe. Churchill’s reply was simple: “John 14: 1–4.” I leave you with the King James version of the words of Jesus contained in this piece of scripture:

Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there may ye be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

Geoff+

Interim Priest-in-Charge