UPDATES
Dear Brothers & Sisters in Christ,
I hope you and your family are doing well during this period of Shelter in Place and Phased Reopening. Sunday mornings at True Sunshine are an important part of our family’s week, and we miss seeing all of you. Not being physically at Church on Sunday indeed feels strange, and so, I suspect like most of you, I wanted to know how True Sunshine and the Diocese was dealing with Covid-19, the current Shelter In Place and the Phased Reopening we are starting to see.
Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to listen in on a Diocese of California Clergy Gathering with our bishop, Bishop Marc Andrus. Below is some of what was shared during the meeting.
- Currently, from the Diocesan Worship guidelines (https://diocal.org/covid-19-advisories), only the minimum number of people required to conduct service for the purpose of recording or livestreaming is allowed within the church.
- No one over the age of 65, or in any other vulnerable category should be included in the recording or livestreaming activities within the church.
- As Fr. Ng has been able to run the Sunday Worship via Zoom the past 2 Sundays without any assistance, the minimum required in the case of True Sunshine is 1 person.
- There is currently no distribution of communion.
- No one over the age of 65, or in any other vulnerable category should be included in the recording or livestreaming activities within the church.
- The Diocese is currently working on a plan to partially reopen churches so that some may worship in person.
- Each church will be asked to submit a plan for their reopening to the Diocese.
- The Diocese will collect these individual plans and based on these plans will develop the Diocese’s plan to reopen and submit to local authorities as required.
- This means that even though San Francisco may be starting to reopen, there will be some time before churches in the Diocese can reopen.
- When we first reopen, it will likely be the case that those over the age of 65 or in any other vulnerable category will be asked to remain at home for their own safety.
- There should be some further updates in mid/late June.
I want to close with an invitation for those who have not yet joined our Sunday Morning Prayer via Zoom to contact Fr. Ng for information on how to join us for worship.
May God continue to bless us and keep us safe.
Your Junior Warden,
William Kwan
親愛的主內弟兄姐妹們，
我希望您和您的家人在居家隔離和分階段重新開放期間都生活平安。真日光堂的主日早晨是我們屬靈家庭在一周裡面最重要的生活聚會之一，我們很想念與大家見面。主日大家沒親自去教堂聚會確實感覺很奇怪，我相信好似您們大多數人一樣，我想要知道真日光堂和教區如何處理新冠肺炎疫情，怎樣面對目前的居家隔離和分階段重新開放。
本周初，我有機會與我們的主教馬克·安德魯斯一起聆聽了加州教區主教和神職人員網路分享會。以下是討論分享的一些內容。
1）目前，根據《教區崇拜指南》(https://diocal.org/covid-19-advisories），教堂內僅允許進行錄音或直播活動的最低人數。
a.教堂內的錄製或直播活動中，不應包括65歲以上或任何其他脆弱人群參與。
- 吳牧師能夠在沒任何人幫助的情況下通過網路視頻(Zoom)在過去的兩個主日進行早禱崇拜，對於真日光堂來說最低要求為一人。
b.當前沒聖餐分派。
2）教區目前正在製定一項計劃，以部分重新開放教堂，以便一些人可以親自來崇拜。
- 每個堂會都將被要求提交一份重開開放教堂的計劃書。
- 教區將收集這些計劃書，並根據這些計劃制定整體教區的計劃，以根據需要重新開放教堂並提交給地方當局政府。
- 這意味著，即使舊金山可能重新開放，教區的教堂仍需要一段時間才能重新開放。
- 當我們第一次重新開放教堂時，很可能會要求65歲以上或其他脆弱群體的人為了自己的健康安全而留在家裡。
- 月中或者下旬應該會有進一步的更新和指示。
最後，我想邀請那些尚未通過網路視頻(Zoom)加入我們主日早禱崇拜的弟兄姐妹請與吳牧師聯繫有關如何加入我們在主日一起崇拜。
願上帝繼續賜福我們並保佑我們健康安全。
您的副堂長，
關偉寧
NEWSLETTERS
Easter Newsletter from Our Junior Warden
By WILLIAM KWAN, Junior Warden
Alleluia. Christ is risen. The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia.
The Lord indeed is risen. Easter is a season of new, a season of renew, a season of change, and a season of hope. Christ suffered for us, died for us, but on Easter, Christ rose again for us.
For many, these past few weeks, this Lenten Season, with this “invisible enemy,” was something new to us, something never seen before. From “shelter in place,” to people panic buying toilet paper, from schools being suddenly closed for months to almost 10 million Americans filing for unemployment in a 2-week time period, these are unprecedented times. Everyone has been impacted in some way. For the more fortunate, this has been a time of great inconvenience. For those less fortunate, this has been a time of suffering.
With every challenge, however, comes great opportunity, opportunity to learn and opportunity to grow. In recent weeks, due to sheltering in place, the English language fellowship has started to meet online via Zoom meetings. This would likely not have occurred if not for recent events. What other opportunities are out there? What else can we learn? How else can we grow?
My hope is that during this challenging time, if we come across a good idea, a new way, an old way, a different way of doing something, that we do not hesitate to share it with the church. My hope is that during this challenging time, we reflect on what the church means to us, what the friends and our church family mean to us, how not seeing each other affect us. I hope that next Easter, when we look back at what has happened in the last year, that we will not only see growth, some positive changes in our personal life, but we also see growth and positive changes in True Sunshine.
“My hope is that during this challenging time, we reflect on what the church means to us, what the friends and our church family mean to us, how not seeing each other affect us.”
哈利路亞！主已經復活了。主真的復活了， 哈利路亞！
的確，主真復活了。復活節是新的季節，更新的季節，變化的季節和希望的季節。基督為我們受苦，為我們而死，但是在復活節，基督再次為我們復活了。
在過去的幾周中，對於許多人來說，在大齋節這個期間這個帶有“看不見的敵人”對我們來說是新事物，這是前所未有的。從“就居所隔離”到人們驚慌地購買衛生紙，從學校突然關閉數月，到在兩週時間內申請失業的近一千萬美國人，這是前所未有的特殊時期。每個人都受到某種程度的影響。對幸運的人來說，這是一個非常不方便的時期。對於那些不幸運的人來說，這是一個痛苦的時期。
然而，每一個挑戰都會帶來巨大的機會，學習的機會和成長的機會。最近幾週，由於居家隔離的到位，英語團契已開始通過網站視訊在線召開聚會。如果不是最近發生的事件，這很可能不會產生。還有哪些其他機會？我們還能學到什麼？我們還能如何成長？
我的希望是，在這個充滿挑戰的時期，如果我們遇到一個好主意，一種新方法，一種舊方法，一種不同的做事方式，那麼我們將毫不猶豫地與教會分享。我的希望是，在這個充滿挑戰的時期，我們反思教會對我們的意義，朋友和教會家庭對我們的意義，以及彼此之間的不相處如何影響我們。我希望在下個復活節，當我們回顧前年發生的事情時候，我們不僅會看到增長，個人生活中的一些積極改變，而且還會看到“真日光堂”中的增長和積極改變。
副堂長:關偉寧先生
