Saint Peter’s Church Safety During Coronavirus Crisis
Dear faithful people of Saint Peter’s Church:
As we deal with the continuous stream of conflicting information, rising panic and legitimate concern about Covid-19 (Coronavirus) I thought it wise to write to you so that you know what we are doing at Saint Peter’s Church to ensure cleanliness throughout our facilities for all who use our building.
1. As of this morning, we have asked our building management company, PPM, to engage an additional facilities staff person to clean and disinfect every touchable surface in our building including, but not limited to, restroom surfaces, elevator buttons, railings, the 54th Street entrance handicapped-access elevator, all door handles, etc. This person will work a full shift Sunday through Friday until the crisis is abated.
To pay this person’s compensation, I requested that our Senior Center partner, Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, pick up 80% of the cost and they agreed. Last night, at our regular meeting, I asked Saint Peter’s Executive Committee to allocate the additional 20% and to authorize me to ask PPM to add this additional facilities person and they agreed.
Yes, we have the appropriate cleaning and disinfecting equipment and materials.
2. As announced at the previous weeks’ masses and misa, we have made the following adjustments:
a. At the Greeting of Peace, we have asked that, rather than shaking hands, hugging or kissing, all of us greet one another with a simple nod or bow as we say, “The peace of the Lord be with you.”
b. During the Offertory, the Presiding Minister – the only person to actually touch the bread, will wash their hands.
c. We ask everyone to receive the bread, the Body of Christ, in their hand. We will not distribute the bread at any mass into a person’s mouth.
d. Since the whole Sacrament is received in either or both elements, we invite all to receive the wine, the Blood of Christ in either of the following ways:
1. As usual, by drinking from the chalice (see note below);
2. By intinction, that is, by dipping the bread into the chalice;
3. By not receiving the wine at all.
(Note: We use fortified wine, 20% alcohol. Our chalices are silver and gold. Our communion assistants wipe the rim of the chalice after each person intincts or drinks from it. The CDC has studied this extensively, both recently and over the past 100 years and declared the combination of all this to be extremely sanitary and safe.)
Many watch our livestream Sunday liturgies and try to participate in our communal worship. To assist you, this Sunday we will begin listing the hymn numbers being sung during those masses on the opening page of the livestream so you can copy the numbers down and sing along. We do not have the technology nor the human power to flash this at the bottom of the screen while the hymns are being sung, but we can give you a "heads up."
Finally, I commend to you the following prayer from the very bottom of page 76 of Evangelical Lutheran Worship under the heading “Time of conflict, crisis, disaster.” I think it provides perfect language for us at this time. We’ve prayed this before.
O God,
Where hearts are fearful and constricted, grant courage and hope.
Where anxiety is infectious, grant peace and reassurance.
Where impossibilities close every door and window, grant imagination and resistance.
Where distrust twists our thinking, grant healing and illumination.
Where spirits are daunted and weak, grant soaring wings and strengthened dreams.
We ask this in the named of Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen
Peace and Joy — and Courage!
Amandus J. Derr
Senior Pastor