Spiritual and religious, but not contagious: spiritual practices in a pandemic.
Here are a few resources that I’ve compiled to assist people as we navigate the COVID-19-related physical distancing and the Stay Home Order.
Scripture
Bible.oremus.org: A free bible lookup online, with the King James Version and New Revised Standard Version available.
Church Publishing
Book of Common Prayer
For those who are at home and do not have a copy, we have made an easy-to-navigate PDF version of the Book of Common Prayer available.
Adult and Children Spirituality
Barbara Cawthorne Crafton, well-known author and retreat leader, offers Living Lent, meditations on the hymns of the season. Those who have known the hymns forever, as well as those who are new to these verses, will find them and Crafton’s meditations on faith, prayer, forgiveness, healing, and more, an excellent companion for the Lenten season.
For children, Karin Holsinger Sherman offers Candle Walk, a beautiful illustrated picture book that prepares children for sleep by taking them on a candlelit wander through the woods and inviting them to experience Compline, a centuries-old practice of contemplative evening prayer. Appropriate for toddlers through elementary aged children, it is a wonderful way to prepare children for sleep, assured of the nearness of God. The Order of Compline from the Book of Common Prayer is also included at the back of the book.
Episcopal Relief and Development
Lent: subscribe to Lenten Meditations or listen on this page.
Daily prayer resources
Mission Saint Clare is a daily prayer resource put online.
Pray As You Go is a podcast for daily prayer.
Forward Day By Day podcast and Daily Prayer are two resources from Forward Movement. Forward Movement is an independent company that creates many of the pamphlets which can be picked up in the narthex (church entry hall), including Forward Day by Day.
Books
We are in a season where we are encouraged not to seek the exterior world, but invites us into the interior. Here are some suggestions for books that speak to the spiritual interior and the moral interior of ourselves. Most of these are linked to Third Place Books, who is offering free shipping through the end of March 2020.
The revelation of divine love by Julian of Norwich
Wisdom of the Desert Fathers and Mothers
Practical Mysticism by Evelyn Underhill
Centering Prayer by Basil Pennington
How to be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
White Fragility: why it’s so hard for white people to talk about racism by Robin Diangelo
On the Side of the Poor: The Theology of Liberation by Gustavo Gutierrez (N.B. I have not read this yet, but have read other works by Fr. Gutierrez, who is one of the foundational minds of Liberation Theology.)
The Rev. Jed Fox
The Rev. Jedediah (Jed) Fox has been the rector of Church of the Redeemer since January 2015. Prior to being called to Redeemer, Fr. Jed served as curate and assistant at The Church of St. Michael and St. George in St. Louis, Missouri, and was a seminarian at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin while attending the General Theological Seminary. Fr. Jed was raised at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Helena, Montana.
You may contact Fr. Jed at rector@redeemer-kenmore.org.
Church of the Redeemer
Welcome to Church of the Redeemer: Worshiping God, living in community, and reaching out to the world. We are an Episcopal Church serving north King County and south Snohomish County, Washington. As you travel your road, go with friends walking the way of Jesus at Redeemer.
Church of the Redeemer is at 6210 Northeast 181st Street in Kenmore, Washington. The campus is a short distance north of Bothell Way, near the Burke-Gilman Trail. The entrance looks like a gravel driveway. The campus is larger on the inside than it is on the outside. And we managed to hide a large building on the side of a hill that is not easily seen from the street.
The Episcopal Church welcomes you.
