A fifteen-year-old Amish girl and her middle-aged mother were in a shopping mall for the first time in their lives. They were amazed by almost everything they saw, but especially by two shiny, silver walls that could move apart and then slide back together again. The girl asked, “What is this, Mother?” The mother (never having seen an elevator) responded, “Sweetie, I have never seen anything like this in my life, I don’t know what it is.” While the girl and her mother were watching with amazement, a heavy set middle aged, balding man in a dirty tee shirt moved up to the moving walls and pressed a button. The walls opened, and the man walked between them into a small room. The walls closed and the girl and her mother watched the small numbers above the walls light up sequentially. They continued to watch until it reached the last number, and then the numbers began to light in the reverse order. Finally, the walls opened up again, and a good looking 30-year-old guy in great shape with tight jeans walked out. The mother, not taking her eyes off the young man, said quietly to her daughter, “Quickly, go get your Father.”

I am afraid that there is no magic elevator that will get us out of this Covid19 pandemic. We have taken a survey of over a hundred in our parish and we overwhelmingly want to start having outdoor services at St. John’s. Our task force put guidelines in place, ordered the appropriate supplies, and set the church up to open. They proposed that we open for outdoor services on July 19^th. The vestry voted to start outdoor services at 8AM and the wardens and Rector agreed to start this Sunday. Please register online if you would like to attend a contemplative, outdoor Morning Prayer service in the Garden of Blessings. The vestry also voted to allow the Thrift Shop to open in the Garden of Blessings on Saturdays. In both cases, you will need a mask and need to socially distance yourself from others. We ask that you bring a chair and prayer book, if you register for the 8:00AM outdoor service. If you do not have a prayer book, we will loan one to you until this pandemic is over. I would like to thank everyone who took the survey, our task force, the vestry, the wardens, and Claire. We have come to a consensus on outdoor services as the best way to open back up at St. John’s while staying safe. We have prepared the church for services when the vestry, wardens, and Rector feel it is appropriate.

Last Sunday our choir had a friendship sing along with St. Augustine’s in Brooklyn. If you missed the Zoom and Facebook Live event, you can go to stjohnshuntington.org to watch the wonderful combination of our choir, the St. Augustine’s choir, steel drum band, and some songs that we sang together. My thanks to St. John's choir, Alex and all the good folks at St. Augustine’s.

Our youth interns completed their 6^th podcast that advises young people on the importance of voting. I urge you to click on the following link and listen to Jen Hebert, Jen Low, Jack Glicker, and Samantha Burns You might want to share it on your Email, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter accounts.

 https://soundcloud.com/samantha-burns-617075477/spirituality-on-tap-6-the-importance-of-voting

Sunday schedule: 

• 8AM Morning Prayer in the Garden of Blessings (registration required)
• 8AM Morning Prayer on Zoom and Facebook Live
• 10AM Holy Eucharist on Zoom and Facebook Live
• 11:30 Alex will play his final Covid19 concert

In Christ’s love,

Fr. Duncan