A Pastoral Letter for May
A letter from Bishop Charlie and the House of Bishops — May 1, 2020
“Three times I plead with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:8-10
My dear friends of the Anglican Network in Canada,
I greet you today in the name of the risen Lord Jesus. He who died on the cross, in our place, for our sin, has been raised to life, never to die again. Having said that, in a sense, I need write nothing else because when you set your mind on him and the things above you realize that even a global pandemic is no match for him and we can know peace and be effective in life and ministry, even in the face of such horrific difficulties.
The above quote from 2 Corinthians could seem like a nonsense statement if it wasn't for the victory of the resurrection. But when you are in Christ, who is the risen Lord Jesus, even our weaknesses provide him with an opportunity to manifest, by his grace, his glorious strength. So truly, we can boast of those weaknesses and trust him to manifest his glory through our obvious need.
Clearly, in these days we as a diocese, as congregations, as individuals and families are operating from a position of weakness and desperate need. Given what the apostle Paul experienced, as recorded in 2 Corinthians 12, we are therefore in the wonderful position whereby we can expect God—who is not thrown off by our weakness—to manifest his great strength, especially in these days.
This is not to say that the challenges and weaknesses of these days are inconsequential or of no concern. We do have to face the situations we are in and deal with whatever comes our way. But we can expect the risen Lord Jesus to work, even in the face of our difficulties and, in fact, because of them.
If you follow the spread of the gospel from the promise of the giving of the Holy Spirit as recorded in Acts 1:8 through the remainder of Luke's account, called the Acts of the apostles, you will notice immediately that the gospel went forward in power both when things were going well and, sometimes even more so, when things were going badly. It is also clear that the Christians did not ignore the problems. They faced them and dealt with them, but very much in the confidence that Jesus was building his church; the Jesus, who rose from the dead and was able to care for them and to work in them and through them, as he so obviously did then and is today.
We can expect therefore to see evidence of the Lord Jesus at work even in these days of sadness, illness and isolation and we do.
I write now again today on behalf of the Bishops of the Anglican Network in Canada.
In Thanksgiving
I have to say that we are filled with thanksgiving to God for all of you
for your cheerfulness in the midst of such great concerns and difficulties and isolation,
for your many acts of kindness, as you care for those who are in need and those who are fully isolated in their homes,
for your generosity —We are so grateful that you are finding ways to send in your tithes and offerings. We encourage you to keep doing that. This is so important and is very honouring to the Lord—
for your grace and concern for your neighbours by both complying to the restrictions which have been set on all of us for the sake of our neighbours and also by actively reaching out in many ways,
for your participation in our online services and encouraging others to do the same.
Truly, we have much to thank God for in our weakness and we are seeing his strength shining through and working miracles in these days. It has been very exciting to see the numbers of those viewing the many services our churches have been providing, some literally numbering in the thousands. We are very aware that there are many who are joining us online in these days who have never been able or felt able to join us in the past. We are certainly praying that many will come to know the Lord Jesus, even as a result of the witness and worship of all our congregations’ services and various gatherings.
With Concerns
We pray
for protection from illness for all of us,
for healing for those who are dealing with illness,
for particular protection for those who are caring for the ill in these precarious days,
for provision for those who are experiencing loss financially and/or jobs during this time,
for those who are experiencing deep anxiety and stress and domestic tension,
for any who in the midst of all these other things may be experiencing any kind of discrimination.
All of these prayer concerns are before us and we and our people are not immune from these things, nor are our neighbours.
We are grateful for the federal subsidy provisions which have been made available for individuals and businesses across the country. We are praying for much wisdom for our diocesan office who are in contact with all the various authorities to determine the eligibility of our congregations to access this financial support. All of these things add a dimension of stress and concern for us all.
We particularly are concerned for new Canadians, many of whom in some of our AMMIC congregations are experiencing loss of work and income. At this time members of our congregations who serve people from the Philippines, South Asia and restaurant workers are particularly suffering difficulty at this time. We would be very grateful if some of our other ANiC congregations were able to send gifts to AMMIC to assist in this real situation at this time.
Plans for the Future
During our most recent online clergy gathering with our bishops on Tuesday, April 28/20 the bishops shared that we were continuing the suspension of all public gatherings and worship services through the next three Sundays May 3rd, 10th and 17th.
During this next period of time it is quite likely that some of our provinces and regions will begin lifting some of the restrictions on gatherings. The timing of these and the nature of the rollback will vary from province to province, so we are now heading into a time where there may be some different situations for our congregations depending on the region in which they are serving. We are committed to fully complying with the directives of our various provincial and local authorities and want to be wholeheartedly committed in this way to protecting lives and seeking the good of our neighbours.
There are lots of discussions and consultations going on with our clergy about these things and no doubt in the days ahead there will need to be much more discussion and prayer. Decisions will be made according to principles of thorough care with the hope that soon, in the Lord’s time, we may gather again together in person.
However, it is very possible that restrictions will be lifted slowly and progressively regarding the numbers that can gather and possibly even the ages of those who are allowed to gather. For instance seniors may be much more restricted than perhaps other age groups. All these things will be part of our discussions. So, please pray for us as we begin to walk this path towards being able to gather together and as Hebrews 10 says "not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” (Hebrews 10:25a).
In the meantime we are working on plans to prepare another diocesan-wide video to add to our Pentecost celebrations on Sunday, May 31st. We hope this may be another opportunity to glorify the Lord and encourage one another as we remember the coming of the Holy Spirit and the launching of the Church.
We must acknowledge that so much of what we're going through right now are things that we have never experienced before but “our Lord knows the way through the wilderness”. So, we need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus in these days. Let us remember his gospel, his good and glorious news, and confidently keep it always central and preeminent in our thoughts and hearts. We need to pray for one another and to support one another. We need to pray that as we trust God and walk with him through these days that the gospel would go forward in power and that we would be able to continue to grow in what we call our 5 Priorities: being bold witnesses, being Biblically grounded, loving children and youth into the kingdom, being strategically on mission and planting and growing churches, as we seek, in response to Jesus' Great commission, to build Biblically faithful, Gospel sharing, Anglican churches.
Continued Easter blessings for you and all you love as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus!
The Right Reverend Charlie Masters
Diocesan Bishop of the Anglican Network in Canada