I participated in a live-stream on May 1, 2021 of the Holy Eucharist celebrating the Feast of St. John the Evangelist with the Brothers of the Episcopal Monastery in Cambridge, MA. Ordinarily, as members of the Fellowship of St. John the Evangelist, we would participate in-person, but the guesthouse and chapel continue to be closed to visitors due to the pandemic.
In addition to an inspiring service with three short homilies from the Brothers, the Superior, Br. James Koester concluded with a video of the annual report for the Monastery.
Br. Koester shared that out of the losses of the pandemic, the Brothers have been inspired to do “old things” in “new ways”. Previously, there were no live-streamed services from the chapel and only a few Brothers conducted spiritual direction with individuals over Skype or Facetime as an exception. In the past, the majority of interactions were in-person events including retreats and workshops.
But as for all of us, the times have changed for the Brothers at the Monastery. Video cameras have been installed in the Chapel so that services can be shared by hundreds through Zoom. The Fellowship members have been invited to join in monthly gatherings via Zoom where two Brothers provide teaching and answer questions from the chat. Br. Jim Woodrum also hosted a series during Lent of interviews on different perspectives on Prayer.
Previously, the Brothers held weekend group retreats for 12 people (the maximum number of guestrooms) and Saturday morning workshops for up to 50 people who primarily were from the Boston area.
This year was different. Br. David Vryhof conducted an 8-week class in Lent on the Gospel of John via Zoom. A video was introduced each Tuesday with a set of meditations and questions for each day of the following week. Over 1200 guests registered for the series, with over 200 participating on-line in real time when the video was released each Tuesday. It was then posted on-line where the remaining 1000 guests from time zones throughout the world could watch asynchronously. Dialogue throughout the week was hosted by teach:able so that participants could interact with each other about the video, meditations, and questions.
So, in doing “old things” (teaching a workshop) in a “new way” (on-line via zoom), the Brothers’ teaching reached 1200 guests instead of the previous 12 (limited by guesthouse capacity).
Brother Koester was asked, “What about when the pandemic is over. Will you go back to only in-person offerings?”
“Not at all. Doing old things in new ways has taught us that we can do both. We look forward to the day when we can reopen the guesthouse and chapel, but we also now appreciate the value of being able to communicate and “see” guests from all over the world. This “new way” has kept us connected with old and new friends in ways that we could have never imagined.”
I’m looking at other things in my life that I can start doing in “new ways”.
Blessings, my friend,
Agatha
(P.S. You can join in the live-stream of services from the Chapel at the Monastery here: https://www.ssje.org/worship-schedule/)