Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
I write to thank each and every one of you for all you are doing to help safe guard yourself and others, and to thank you for the many ways you are helping people in your community. To those of you serving in areas of essential employment we offer you our deepest gratitude. What you are doing matters, and matters greatly! We pray God will keep you safe as you serve others. To all our clergy and lay leaders, though all your efforts are not always visible, I truly appreciative the ways you are adapting to this new, at a distance, ministry. Your prayers, phone calls, encouragements, adaptive worship strategies and mobilization of the faithful in your community, is commendable. Thank you!
Much, behind the scenes work continues in the diocese.
It gives me great pleasure today to announce the Good News of an expanded covenant, not just with the Archdiocese of Regina, but with all the Evangelical Lutheran, Anglican, Ukrainian and Roman Catholic dioceses and eparchy in Saskatchewan. This is an historic day.
Two weeks ago, the bishops agreed the text, which is attached to this email letter. It was a holy moment indeed. Quiet filled our virtual spaces before we were led by the Holy Spirit, in repentance and in thanksgiving, in intercession for the Church and the world. I commend the covenant to you. While there are many proposed initiatives in the covenant, our hope is that our churches in their local settings might begin with one or two joint actions that would enliven their parishes and congregations.
Next week there will be other important announcements being made. Announcements that I will share in my Maundy Thursday evening video message to the diocese.
Please watch for emails regarding the time and web location etc of the Maundy Thursday message and of the special diocesan Easter Day services. A future email will give you all the information you need to join the ‘on-line' services and a bulletin of the main service will be emailed to you all.
Keep Safe and God bless you. You all remain in my prayers,
– The Rt. Revd. Rob Hardwick
