Lockdown Resources

May 9, 2020May 9, 2020

Here at TAP we want to provide a variety of resources to help you during this lockdown. First, some spiritual observations and suggestions.

By Sue Careless

DURING THIS current pandemic, regular worship services and gatherings have been banned for obvious health reasons but many churches have made online services possible with live streaming. Even Bible study groups and coffee hour chats are happening through Zoom and similar apps. Nor are the little ones forgotten. Some churches are offering Bible stories for children along with songs and even crafts.

While this virtual church will never be as good as in-the-flesh gatherings, it certainly helps combat the isolation many of us feel during this long lockdown. As one priest who taped his Easter sermon and posted it on his parish website observed: “Preaching to a camera is no substitute for in person at public worship but we live in a period of ‘make do.’”

Not all congregations, however, have the equipment or expertise to livestream or even record well. So those in more limited circumstances are encouraged to virtually ‘visit’ an online church. Indeed, all of us can now ‘visit’ other churches and hear other preachers and musicians.

Clergy are right in telling their congregations that they can receive the Eucharist as a “spiritual communion” as this pandemic has caused a “just impediment” to receiving the sacrament physically. See p. 584 of the Book of Common Prayer for more details on this Anglican rubric.

St Thomas Church on Huron Street in Toronto includes this prayer in their online Eucharistic liturgy:

My Jesus, I believe that thou art truly present in the Holy Sacrament. And since I cannot now receive thee sacramentally, I beseech thee to come spiritually into my heart. I unite myself unto thee, and embrace thee with all the affections of my soul. Let me never be separated from thee. Let me live and die in thy love. Amen.

Let’s pray that not only will the faithful be kept strong in their faith, but also that those who never normally darken a church door might cross this virtual threshold and be touched by what they see and hear.

Virtual orchestras and choirs existed before the pandemic hit, but they have come into their own during this lockdown. Singers and musicians perform individually in their own homes then send their video recordings to a master technician who electronically weaves all the pieces together. One added feature of the final video is that we get a much closer glimpse of the people performing than we would in a church or concert hall. Popular this Eastertide are a virtual choir of 600 musicians and singers performing the great Easter hymn, The Strife is O’er https://episcopalchurch.org/virtual-choir. A smaller group of about 60 singers perform In Christ Alone youtu.be/RY4CW5pte98. Musicians from the orchestra, choir and bands of All Souls, Langham Place recorded the same hymn in homes all over London while the church family was in lockdown. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plH2Efm5ZjI. Here in Canada the Toronto Symphony performs Aaron Copeland’s uplifting Appalachian Spring https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rzZ2F18MwI.

Besides engaging in corporate praise and worship online, we should not neglect private prayer. Indeed, whenever we pray, even in solitary confinement, we pray with Christians around the world and down through the ages and with all the company of heaven.

We are in Eastertide but in many ways it feels like we are still living through a long Lent. Many of us have never been on a retreat and this lockdown is giving us a kind of retreat, a chance to come apart and rest awhile, albeit a brief while each day if you have young children clamouring for your attention.

Compline is a wonderful service to pray just before bedtime (p. 722); busy families but also individuals may turn to the very back of the Book of Common Prayer for morning and evening Family Prayers (p. 728-736). In this difficult time many are turning to the Litany on p. 30 with its Supplication, p. 35, designed especially for “in times of trouble.” And for the shortest daily service there is Prayers at Mid-Day on p.16, which encourages us to pray for the whole world.

For none of these services do you need a priest to be present. If you don’t have a copy of the Book of Common Prayer you can find it online at http://prayerbook.ca.

We would highly recommend some short videos by Canon Ross Hebb, rector of St Peter’s in Fredericton. He is offering clear, instructional videos on how to pray the services of Morning and Evening Prayer on your own or with your housemates, as well as how to say Family Devotions and Compline. These are bare bones instructional videos designed for beginners that tell you “how to” in simple, straightforward English. All you need is a Bible, a Prayer Book and the desire to pray!

For how to say Family Prayers see: youtube.com/watch?v=YhTF2frmRRw&feature=share

For how to say Compline see: