Sunday Worship Services:
Due to efforts to slow the spread of COVID19
in-person worship services are cancelled
through Easter Sunday.
Services will be live streamed on Sundays 9:00 a.m.
Due to efforts to slow the spread of COVID19
in-person worship services are cancelled
through Easter Sunday.
Services will be live streamed on Sundays 9:00 a.m.
For further information, contact:
vicardiana@staugustineskohala.com
vicardiana@staugustineskohala.com
A message from Vicar Diana
"Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God." (1 John 4:7)
Our mission statement: "A place to BE the love of God and FEEL the love of God" flows from the quote from 1 John. Our "place" for common worship -- our sacred church space -- has been temporarily closed in efforts to slow the spread of the COVID19 virus in our community.
This change is disorienting and difficult as we seek to serve our neighbors by practicing social distancing and minimizing our movements in our communities. In one sense, we have lost our "place to be and feel the love of God." Yet, in another sense we have been given a challenge to adapt as we seek new ways to be and feel God's love in the world.
I have worried that worshipping without the gathering of our spiritual community will feel awkward ... that a virtual service will become more of a performance than our spirit-filled collective prayer and joyful song. Add to this worry the ongoing attention to hand washing and sanitizing surfaces, and I feel stress in a way that is hard to name. The conversations I'm having with folks remind me that we are dealing with a public health crisis that most of us have never experienced before. The stress of this crisis is enormous as we struggle to accept what we cannot control, to do what we can about the things we can control, and to deepen our trust in the power of God's love working through us and in us.
In the midst of adapting our behaviors to combat this virus, we ought to give ourselves permission to share how we are feeling. Fear and anger find expression through denial, over-functioning, suspicion, hoarding goods, scapegoating, blaming and shaming. Our stress is only compounded when we try to ignore the powerful feeling of fear that arises because we do not have control over this virus. Our relationships suffer when we allow our anger to shape our words and actions toward each other.
Even as we scramble to care for ourselves, our families and our communities God continues to call us to be love; God continues to remind us that we are loved; God continues to form us through and in God's infinite love. Even now, in our fear and stress, God moves and is revealed in our daily lives.
I invite you to join our livestream worship on Sunday morning as we explore a new way to continue living into our mission statement: "A place to BE the love of God and to FEEL the love of God." Surely the common bonds of our spiritual ohana will find an exciting and spirit-filled way to recreate "place" in a virtual space. Beloved, let us love one another.
"See" you Sunday morning.
Blessings and peace,
Vicar Diana+
This change is disorienting and difficult as we seek to serve our neighbors by practicing social distancing and minimizing our movements in our communities. In one sense, we have lost our "place to be and feel the love of God." Yet, in another sense we have been given a challenge to adapt as we seek new ways to be and feel God's love in the world.
I have worried that worshipping without the gathering of our spiritual community will feel awkward ... that a virtual service will become more of a performance than our spirit-filled collective prayer and joyful song. Add to this worry the ongoing attention to hand washing and sanitizing surfaces, and I feel stress in a way that is hard to name. The conversations I'm having with folks remind me that we are dealing with a public health crisis that most of us have never experienced before. The stress of this crisis is enormous as we struggle to accept what we cannot control, to do what we can about the things we can control, and to deepen our trust in the power of God's love working through us and in us.
In the midst of adapting our behaviors to combat this virus, we ought to give ourselves permission to share how we are feeling. Fear and anger find expression through denial, over-functioning, suspicion, hoarding goods, scapegoating, blaming and shaming. Our stress is only compounded when we try to ignore the powerful feeling of fear that arises because we do not have control over this virus. Our relationships suffer when we allow our anger to shape our words and actions toward each other.
Even as we scramble to care for ourselves, our families and our communities God continues to call us to be love; God continues to remind us that we are loved; God continues to form us through and in God's infinite love. Even now, in our fear and stress, God moves and is revealed in our daily lives.
I invite you to join our livestream worship on Sunday morning as we explore a new way to continue living into our mission statement: "A place to BE the love of God and to FEEL the love of God." Surely the common bonds of our spiritual ohana will find an exciting and spirit-filled way to recreate "place" in a virtual space. Beloved, let us love one another.
"See" you Sunday morning.
Blessings and peace,
Vicar Diana+
Once regular worship is resumed, Holy Eucharist* is at 7 AM & 9 AM
*One service: 9:00 AM Morning Prayer in the following months in 2020:
August 9
September 13
October 11
November 15
*One service: 9:00 AM Morning Prayer in the following months in 2020:
August 9
September 13
October 11
November 15
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