Suspension of In-Person Worship and Formation

December 7, 2020 

Dear Saint Stephen’s Community, 

After consulting with our Task Force on COVID-19 and our Wardens, I have decided to suspend Sunday in-person worship and have asked our staff to refrain from in-person formation for the time being. The surge in positive cases and hospitalizations in our community is sobering and self-restraint seems to me the most compassionate and responsible practice we can employ.  While the coming weeks will be very difficult, with the positive news around a vaccine, we know this time of pandemic is short lived.   

I give great thanks for the creativity of our congregation. We have formation opportunities nearly every single day being offered on Zoom or YouTube. Our community is connecting through pastoral care in deep and meaningful ways. Saint Stephen’s has just helped procure plexiglass dividers for the emergency shelter at Grace Church in Woodlawn so that it can reopen under COVID-19 restrictions. Ministry in Avondale is flourishing. Our Christian Formation lectures are all available on our YouTube channel. Whitney Page has captured the beauty of our musicians and choir with extraordinary creativity. Jennifer Jones and Whitney are finishing our children’s Christmas Eve service, which will have the largest amount of participation in years, if not ever. We just celebrated with a moving and faithful worship service led by our youth and youth leadership. Our Daily Office services will continue to be streamed on Facebook and the daily reflections are reaching hundreds of people every day.   

Saint Stephen’s is very much open, alive, and engaged in life-changing ministry and formation. I give thanks daily for this community and am eager for the moment when we can sing, hug, dance, and gather again in large crowds. Maybe we are learning more than we bargained for about waiting during this Advent season. And yet, it is in waiting that we are compelled to find hope and the promise of salvation on the horizon.  

Faithfully, 

John+