Important Announcement Regarding Church Services and Meetings
Posted March 13, 2020
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-9
Dear Members, Friends, and the Entire Community Who Make Up St. Cross,
No matter our age or circumstance, this is a challenging time in our lives. First and foremost the community, leadership and clergy of St. Cross are here to pray for you, pray with you and support you. Information is changing hour by hour, and thus we are making the best decisions we can given what we know. Some decisions may change with time.
Last night our Vestry met and made the hard decision to close our Sunday services to the public. While this is difficult, we follow suit with many dioceses, and also adhere to recommendations from Los Angeles County Health about guidelines for gatherings.
We will be going to online services for the rest of the month of March starting this Sunday, March 15, 2020 at 10 am only. We encourage you PLEASE join us online at stcross.org/live/ where we will have a video stream and links to bulletins.
In fact we will continue to post all notices and needed information available at www.stcross.org/covid-19/ for up to date information pertaining to changes with the COVID-19 virus and our response. We are asking all groups to move to an online format where possible. We are looking into how to safely continue our ministry to the least of these, especially our Neighbor to Neighbor feeding ministry and our Laundry Love ministry. Check back for updates on those.
Keeping in touch with you is one of our top priorities in the weeks ahead (praying for you IS the top priority). The Vestry and clergy have discussed how to organize a phone tree so we stay in touch with one another and no one becomes isolated. Our pastoral care line is always available by calling the main church number at 310-376-8989 and following the prompts.
All clergy are regularly checking email. We encourage ALL of you to reach out to your neighbors, friends, and family via phone, text, facetime, email and chat them up. See what they are up to. Ask them how you can pray for them. We need to keep in touch with one another. We are the community of the beloved, and we will continue to pray, nurture and care for one another, even when we cannot be physically present with one another. Remember, we are part of One Body.
The Vestry and I agree that we will work to continue to pay all staff and hourly workers. This means we hope you will continue to fulfill you pledge. You may drop in the slot in the office during the week, or even better you can pay online (yes, here is the link).
The Los Angeles Department of Health has asked for our help. Please, please, please if you are over 60 and especially if you have heart or lung issues or diabetes, it is MUCH safer to stay home. We will want to see you when this is over, that is our goal in closing our doors and going online. Women’s Bible Study and Lent Study will go to an online format.
We are working out office protocols. For the moment the office will remain open, yet this is subject to change. Again, check our website and Facebook Page for updates.
Nothing can separate us from God, and we will do our best not to be separated from one another. Reach out and be in touch and we will do the same.
Peace,
The Rev. Dr. Rachel Anne Nyback
