Remaining A Community of Believers
By The Rev. M. Christian Wood, ‘16
Senior Priest Associate for Liturgy and Formation, Church of the Redeemer, Sarasota, Florida
When the decision was made to move from in-person corporate worship and formation at Redeemer in early March, I knew it would take a gargantuan effort for our congregation to remain a cohesive community of believers. So, we decided to continue to offer the many programs Redeemer offers, but in a new way. Church of the Redeemer, in Sarasota, Florida, is a large resource size parish. On a typical Sunday morning, we have nearly one thousand people come through our campus. Before COVID-19, Redeemer complemented its five Sunday Masses with three adult education opportunities, two led by the clergy and one by a layperson. We had Sunday School classes for each grade level from pre-k to high school, as well as countless opportunities for people to be together, enjoy a cup of coffee, and have a bite to eat. On Wednesday nights, we also offer youth confirmation classes that last the entire academic year; monthly three- to four-week courses for adults; a youth group; and a program for children called LOGOS. We consider ourselves fortunate at Redeemer to have developed such an abundance of formation opportunities.
What does a church do when all this is taken away? At Redeemer, we continued to offer everything we always offered; however, we had to pivot to an online platform. We utilized the Facebook Live feature to take all the content we were planning to create to “Redeemer’s Online Campus.” The campus has grown to include an incredible and engaging YouTube channel that has become widely used by our parishioners and beyond. As of this writing, Friday, September 25, we have completed twenty-six straight weeks of formation on our new online campus: Morning and Evening Prayer five days a week, as well as a class offering each day.
One of the significant successes we have enjoyed thanks to these efforts is a rejuvenated connection of our parishioners to the Daily Office. As long as I have been associated with Redeemer, we have been encouraging our parishioners to worship God through the liturgies of Morning and Evening Prayer. Attendance has always been sparse, and there was always frustration on the part of us who love the office. Since moving the office online, first as a live stream from a laptop, and now a live stream from the church's choir, the engagement with the office has exploded. The fact is, if there is any liturgy in all Christendom that lends itself perfectly to a live stream, it is the Daily Office. While we do not count those joining us for the office in our register, we see over two-hundred people per day viewing these liturgies.
Redeemer’s formation opportunities have flourished as well. We’ve discovered unique new ways to engage and teach our people. A highlight of this innovation is what I have coined a “Zoomcast.” I am a big fan of podcasts and find long-from interviews incredibly interesting, so we began to interview people on Zoom. We’ve interviewed Lord and Lady Carey, biblical scholars, community activists, and more. The “Zoomcast” platform has proven to be a favorite of the congregation as well as for others who are not Redeemer members. Two of our weekly offerings are “The Rector’s Class” and “Tell Me More.” The Rector’s Class is a series of three- to four-week classes offered on Sunday Mornings. Under our current theme “back to basics,” we’re leading reflections on The Lord’s Prayer, The Nicene Creed, and The Ten Commandments. This theme will take us into Advent. “Tell Me More” is an opportunity for our parishioners to ask that Sunday’s preacher questions and for the preacher to expand on the sermon conversationally. It was always a hit in-person and continues to be popular online.
As we begin opening our buildings again and look forward to bringing them back into full use, we will hold all these classes as live, in-person events again. Yet, while we’re excited to teach live people again, we will continue to offer five-days-per-week formation opportunities, at least during the academic year. We will do this by filming all of these classes and pushing them out the following week. I am sure this will come with some significant challenges, but I know the team at Redeemer is up for it!
I’ll include along with this reflection a list of the classes and events we have hosted on our Online Campus. Fr. Charleston Wilson and I believe firmly that the church should be on the offense, not on defense. We must push hard to show Christ to the world. Our motto at Redeemer is that we are here to make new Christians and make all Christians new; I pray all who read this will take on that charge. Feel free to use anything we have created, make it your own, reconfigure it to work in your parish. We can lead a revival in the Episcopal Church; all it takes is some prayerful hard work.
All that to say, I encourage you to encourage others to share your resources, your ideas, your challenges and successes with one another. Or join us. Our schedule is below; feel free to dip into our archives and glean ideas from our ministries. Also, don’t forget to use The Chapter to share how you’re remaining a community of believers. Send your ideas, links, resources to chapter@nashotah.edu
Full list of online formation: “Redeemer’s Online Campus”
Classes begin at 6:30 p.m. (EST)
We began in March with “How to Pray the Daily Office at Home”; Sunday written and recorded sermons; and a series called “Tell me More” with Fr. Wilson. Since April, we’ve produced Monday through Friday content for every week, all of which is available in our archives. Here’s what we’ve got going for September through October:
April
6 Monday: Tell Me More (Wilson)
7 Tuesday: Cranmer and his Collects (Wood)
8 Wednesday: Confirmation 5PM (Wood)
The Triduum: Wood 6:30 PM
9 Thursday: Maundy Thursday stream 6 PM
10 Friday: Stations of the Cross 7:30 AM
Good Friday feed 12:00 PM
13 Monday: “Tell me More” (Wilson)
14 Tuesday: Mass with the family and tradition at our house (Wood)
15 Wednesday: Unreliable witnesses, the first witnesses of the Resurrection (Wilson)
16 Thursday: Ann Stephenson Moe and her journey at Redeemer
17 Friday: Q&A with a priest.
20 Monday: “Tell me More” (Wood)
21 Tuesday: Life and Liturgy in the Early Church
22 Wednesday: “Clergy Fashion” Show (Wood)
23 Thursday: The Front Lines of COVID 19 and Doctors perspective of Faith and Medicine
24 Friday: Q&A With a priest (Wilson)
27 Monday: “Tell me more” (Wilson)
28 Tuesday: “The Exodus: A reflection on individual reliance on God” (Wood)
29 Wednesday: Finding Grace and Faith in Finding Nemo (Wilson)
30 Hymn Sing: Wood, Nelson, Moe
5.1.20 Wood: Q & A with special announcements for the upcoming week.
May
4 Youth: Tell me More about yourselves
5 The Daily Office at Redeemer, before COVID and after? (Wood)
6 Wilson:
7 Becky Thornhill: GATORS Why did I start it and what are we up to?
8 Q & A with the Clergy (Wood and Wilson)
11 “Tell Me More” (Wilson)
12 Wood: Parables, what are they; and why did Jesus like them so much?
13 Strohm: Angels in the Attic
14 Ann St. Moe: Interview with Addie and Calvin
15 Wood & Wilson: Q & A with the Clergy
18 Wood: “Tell Me More”
19 Wood: “The Story of Hannah” A prototype of “The Ever Blessed” Virgin Mary
20 Wilson: An Interview with Archbishop and Lady Carey
21 Jacki Bodecker: Children’s Formation
22 Wood & Wilson: Q & A with the Clergy
25 Wilson: “Tell Me More”
26 Strohm: Ascensiontide Holy Scripture in A Time of Uncertainity
27 Wood: An Interview with Dr. Garwood Anderson. How we can know our translations of scripture can be trusted.
28 Jacki Bodecker: Will come up with a title
29 Wood or Wilson: Q & A with the Clergy: Meet our new Intern Andrew Lazo
1 Wilson: “Tell Me More”
2: Lazo: C.S. Lewis stuff
3 Wood: More Parables with Fr. Wood!
4 Ann and Sam: Concert series for June
5 Lazo: Spiritual Workout Routines: Train our souls like we train our bodies!
Monday 8 Lazo: “Tell Me More”
Tuesday 9 Mike Hartenstine: “Staying quietly in your room” Reflections on a Pandemic
Wednesday 10 Wood: Daily Office Readers zoom call with Traci Reed (Make this sound better)
Thursday 11 Ann and Sam: Concert series for June (Get information from Ann and Sam
Friday 12 Lazo: Get class information from Andrew
Monday 15 Christoph and HS Seniors: Pre-Record Zoom chat about their future “Oh the Places you’ll go.”
Tuesday 16 Wilson: Zoom chat with Marsha Devitt about the role of the Altar Guild (Pre Record)
Wednesday 17 Wood: Parables class
Thursday 18 Ann and Sam: Concert series for June (Get information from Ann and Sam
Friday 19 Lazo: Continue Spiritual Exercise? (get info from Andrew)
Monday 22 “Tell me More: Wilson
Tuesday 23 “The Moral Courage of Dr. Martin Luther King”: Strohm
Wednesday 24 Wilson: Zoom chat with Lindsay Urwin**
Thursday 25 Ann and Sam: Concert series for June (Get information from Ann and Sam
Friday 26 Lazo: Continue Spiritual Exercise? (get info from Andrew)
Monday 29 “Tell me More: Lazo
Tuesday 30 Wilson: Ask him for something
Wednesday 1 Wood: What can we learn from the earliest Leaders of the church?
Thursday 2 Ann and Sam: Concert series for June (Get information from Ann and Sam
Friday 3 Lazo: Continue Spiritual Exercise (get info from Andrew)
Monday 6 “Tell me More: Wood
Tuesday 7 Wilson: Been going through Hell? Let’s talk about heaven
Wednesday 8 Wood: Feed My Sheep
Thursday 9 Ann and Sam: Sam and Limoncellui
Friday 10 Lazo: For all the saints
Monday 13 “Tell me More: Wilson
Tuesday 14 Strohm: The Martyrs of Memphis
Wednesday 15 Wilson: Been going through Hell? Let’s talk about heaven part 2
Thursday 16 Ann and Sam Concert
Friday 17 Lazo: For all the saints
Monday 20 “Tell me More: Wood
Tuesday 21 Michelle Van Loon: TBA
Wednesday 22 Wood: A Legacy of Mission at Redeemer, highlighting our Youth Mission Endeavors.
Thursday 23 Ann and Sam Concert
Friday 24 Lazo: For all the saints
Monday 27 “Tell me More: Wilson
Tuesday 28 Michelle Van Loon part 2:
Wednesday 29 Christin Lazo: Women and C.S. Lewis
Thursday 30 Ann and Sam Concert
Friday 31 Lazo: For all the saints
Monday 3: “Tell me More: Lazo
Tuesday 4: Zoomcast Selah Freedom a partner in faith: Fr. Wood and Elizabeth Fisher Good
Wednesday 5: Fr. Wilson get info from him
Thursday 6: Zoomcast a discussion with Jay Crouse about the mission of men’s minstry
Friday 7: VBS Jacki Bo in charge
Monday 17: “Tell me More: Wilson
Tuesday 18: Fr Wood: Bible study a style guide to find the perfect fit for you!
Wednesday 19: Introducing Jacki Overton Zoomcast part 1
Thursday 20: Fr. Wilson 3rd part of series
Friday 21: Excerpts from VBS Growing up with God for Grownups
Monday 24: “Tell me More: Wood
Tuesday 25: Zoomcast Interview with Canon Durning and Fr. Wood (Can use his bio for advertisement)
Wednesday 26: Introducing Jacki Overton Zoomcast part 2
Thursday 27: Fr. Wilson
Friday 28: Excerpts from VBS Growing up with God for Grownups #2 of 4
Classes Week of August 31 – Sept. 4
Monday 31: “Tell me More: Fr. Wilson
Tuesday 1: Rectors Class: Back to Basics “The Lord’s Prayer” Fr. Wood
Wednesday 2: Strohm
Thursday 3: Andrew Young
Friday 4: Excerpts from VBS Growing up with God for Grownups #3 of 4
Classes Week of September 7 - 11
7 “Tell me More” (Fr. Wood)
8 Rector’s Class: Back to Basics “The Lord’s Prayer” (Fr. Wilson)
9 Rally Sunday preview (Jacki & Fr. Wood )
10 Patristics: Wood
11 Reflections on 9-11 (Fr Wood)
Classes Week of September 14 - 18
14 “Tell me More” (Fr. Wilson)
15 Rector’s Class: Back to Basics “The Lord’s Prayer” (Fr. Wilson)
16 Black Theology (Fr. Landon Moore)
17 Patristics (Fr. Wood)
18 “Knowing Jesus, the Friend of Sinners” A Series of Chats with Fr. Charleston
Classes Week of September 21-25
21 “Tell me More” (Fr. Wood)
22 Rectors Class: Back to Basics “The Lord’s Prayer” (Fr. Strohm)
23 Canon Haselock and Fr. Wilson
24 Patristics (Fr. Wood)
25 “Knowing Jesus, the Friend of Sinners” A Series of Chats with Fr. Charleston
Classes Week of September 28 – Oct. 2
28 “Tell me More” (Fr. Wilson)
29 Rector’s Class: Back to Basics “The Lord’s Prayer” (Fr. Wood)
30 Strohm MLK-Part 3
1 Patristics (Fr. Wood)
2 “Knowing Jesus, the Friend of Sinners” A Series of Chats with Fr. Charleston
Classes Week of October 5-9
5 “Tell me More” (Fr. Wood)
6 Rector’s Class: Back to Basics Nicene Creed (Fr. Wilson)
7 “Tough Topics: Sin” A conversation with Fr. Charleston
8 The Four Gospels: Mark (Fr. Wood)
9 Ann Moe Concert
Classes Week of October 12-16
12 “Tell me More” (Fr. Wilson)
13 Rector’s Class: Back to Basics Nicene Creed (Fr. Wood)
14 “Tough Topics: Sin”A conversation with Fr. Charleston
15 The Four Gospels: Matthew (Fr. Wood)
16 Sam Nelson Concert
Classes Week of October 19-23
19 “Tell me More: Wood
20 Rector’s Class: Back to Basics Nicene Creed Strohm
21 Interview with Fr. Alex Pryor from the diocese of the arctic
22 The Four Gospels: Luke/Acts Fr. Wood Class 3
23 Music Concert
Classes Week of October 26-30
26 “Tell me More: Wood
27 Rector’s Class: Back to Basics Nicene Creed (Fr. Wilson)
28 Strohm Columbus
29 The Four Gospels: John Fr. Wood Class 4
30 Halloween Concert