Letter from the Rector — Covid 19 Response Update

19 March 2020

Dear broth­ers and sis­ters and all friends of St Luke’s Enmore with Stanmore

Re: Cov­id-19 Vir­us Response

Greet­ings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You have prob­ably heard by now that the Arch­bish­op of Sydney has decided that the Anglic­an Church in Sydney sus­pend ALL pub­lic church gath­er­ings until fur­ther notice.  Fur­ther, we are told that this may last for sev­er­al months, with the Prime Min­is­ter being quoted as say­ing meas­ures like this could remain for six months.

As a res­ult, there will be no church ser­vices at St Luke’s until fur­ther notice.   This does not mean that all min­istry will cease but we will not be able to gath­er as we have tra­di­tion­ally done.

I and the war­dens are explor­ing ways to respond to these new cir­cum­stances and ways to main­tain an online and/or writ­ten min­istry.   This may involve You­Tube or Face­book so look out for that.

In the mean­time there are sev­er­al import­ant points to make.

The num­ber one issue is to try to make sure that our par­ish mem­bers (and every­one else) remain healthy.   To this end please take note of the inform­a­tion in the box below.

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OFFICIAL ADVICE FROM THE DEPUTY CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER PAUL KELLY

“These are simple things — wash your hands, do it often and do it prop­erly. Secondly, when you cough or sneeze, sneeze into your elbow. The third thing, don’t touch your face. Get used to not touch­ing your face, even if it itches, please do not touch your face.  If you need to touch your face, wash your hands first.

“The fourth one, if you are out (stay) 1.5m away from every­one whenev­er that is pos­sible. The fifth thing, if you are sick, stay at home.”

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Secondly, if you have spe­cial needs please let the par­ish know.  We may be able to help.   If you have pray­er needs, please let the par­ish know.  If you become ill, please let us know.

Would you like a daily or weekly phone call?  Please let us know. We can do this.

I will be con­tinu­ing to put togeth­er a weekly ser­mon, and I will be get­ting it to you one way or another.

These are chal­len­ging times for all of us.  But God is good and these times will pass.  Our task now is to stay in touch with each oth­er, to pray for one anoth­er and to con­tin­ue to sup­port one anoth­er with true Chris­ti­an love.

While being a Chris­ti­an does not in itself pro­tect us from this dis­ease I do look to the scrip­tures for guid­ance, help and reas­sur­ance.   In Mark’s Gos­pel, Chapter 10, on one occa­sion the dis­ciples were amazed at Jesus teach­ings and they said ‘Then who can be saved?’ ²⁷ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For mor­tals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.’

We can con­tin­ue to have hope in God, for he has done mar­vel­lous things for us.

This is a pray­er for all of us to use each day at this time of concern:

Lov­ing and gra­cious God

Thank you for all your gifts to us.

At this time of ill­ness, help us to keep safe.

Grant to us, lead­ers and prac­ti­tion­ers who know what to do

Help us be eager to fol­low the advice of those who care for our health.

Encour­age them and give them the under­stand­ing they need to keep us well.

We pray espe­cially for the eld­erly and those who are vul­ner­able to this disease.

Watch over them and guard them.

And guard our health work­ers in hos­pit­als and in the community

as they go about their work with the sick.

Fath­er, We look to you at this time with tender hearts.

Take our fears and give us peace and hope, trust and faith,

and in your mercy bless our par­ish and its ministry.

All this we pray in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

With best wishes and pray­ers, and much more to come,

Fr Jef­frey Parker

Rect­or