FCCOWT Coronavirus Actions
April 13, 2020
Dear Beloved Community,
What a turbulent time this is. Each day brings new revelations and requires a new response. Your church leaders and I have been working hard to stay on top of the recommendations regarding COVID-19 (coronavirus) coming from the CDC and the State of Massachusetts. We are aware of the weight and privilege of serving and ministering to a wide community of people. Your spiritual, emotional and physical awareness, protection and health are a priority to us.
The Southern New England Conference of the United Church of Christ (SNEUCC) has been offering excellent leadership and direction. We have adopted the following measures, as recommended by the SNEUCC.
Through the end of April, we will:
Suspend worship services in church.
Postpone the annual meeting of the church.
Postpone all board, committee and team meetings
Close the church office. Staff will work from home.
For church business, we recommend telephone and video conference calls. Over the next few days, however, we encourage everyone to take some time to look at their personal needs and the needs of their family and friends.
Caring for Our Congregation
The Care Team is available to assist those who are less mobile or shut in to acquire necessary food and provisions. Please call the church office at 508-693-2842 if you are concerned about a member of our congregation or community. You can also call or text the Care Team Coordinator, Elliott Bennett, at 508-733-1241. We encourage everyone to practice kindness and simply pick up the phone and call anyone you might be concerned about.
In these uncertain times, I invite you to turn to what is lasting – the love of God and the peace of Christ that is within you and surrounds you. Social distancing offers us an invitation to not just cozy up in our homes, but head off on a walk in the woods or on the beach. Less time in meetings and large gatherings can mean more time for prayer and meditation. When we find the anxiety building around us, we can breathe in God’s peace and exhale the chaos and fear. We can generate capacity, ease and compassion, in the midst of the turbulence, and offer ourselves as a healing balm to those around us, ever-mindful of the most vulnerable among us.
Our hope is that even as we practice “social distancing” we can come ever closer to one another in prayer and compassion, using technology to our advantage.
And now, we close with a prayer, composed for the challenging days ahead:
Oh God, I’m Spinning Out: A Prayer
Rev. Dr. Hannah Adams Ingram
Chaplain, Franklin College, Franklin Indiana
March 10, 2020
There is so much I do not know
There is so much I cannot see
There is so much I cannot control
In the moments I feel powerless, I will take a deep breath
trusting that I am tasked only with doing my part, not the whole
In the moments I feel unsure, I will take a deep breath
trusting that I am not alone and that together, our wisdom will be richer
In the moments I feel anxious, I will take a deep breath
trusting that there is no depth I can fall out of reach of the Spirit that holds me close
What I do know is that my life and love and worth extend far beyond my work
What I can see is that spring follows every winter and new life pokes out from cold ground
What I can control is my breath and the love I inject into a world so clearly lacking it
“And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
Amen