Thursday 12th March 2020 will always be remembered as “LD Day”! Lock Down day in Portugal. All of a sudden ( or so it seemed ) shops closed, Bars and Restaurants closed, Borders closed, Schools and Universities closed and Churches were shut as the Government introduced measures designed at stopping or slowing down the spread of the deadly Coronavirus or COVID19.
For the congregation of All Saints Anglican Church in Almancil it meant that their worship space for over 12 years - ASCA Associacao Social e Cultural de Almancil was closed in order to protect their most vulnerable residents and All Saints weekly Wednesday and Sunday worship Services were temporarily suspended.
But in these first dark and uncertain days of the outbreak it became more important than ever that the Congregation continued to pray together and were led in Worship by their Priest, Rev’d Mike Clarkson.
Rev’d Mike speaking through video link explained, “This is much like the early church. Sometimes held in homes, sometimes in the Catacombs, but always the same Good News of Jesus Christ shared together.”
Time to step up and into the 21st Century
Rev’d Mike tasked a small team of from his Congregation to find a way of worshiping together as a Church family while remaining in the safety of their own homes.
And they found it! In the shape of the now universally acclaimed software – Zoom, and on Palm Sunday April 5th 2020 the Congregation joined together in an interactive, live Worship Service, through their laptops, pc’s tablets and smartphones.
Over 60 members, friends and family from both here in the Algarve and worldwide accepted the invitation to join the 10.30am Service of Worship on this very special day in the Christian Calendar. There were some glitches, there were some silences but there was a huge outpouring of joy from the congregation and much gratitude as they waved their home made palm crosses, sang, prayed together and took part in the traditional multi voice reading of the Passion of Christ.
Since then through Easter and continuing today the virtual congregation has grown. The new medium has allowed for new approaches to worship. Anglican Bishop Andy Lines preached from his home in the UK, video are dropped into the Service, worship can be led from mountaintops or cathedrals. The Congregation now embrace virtual meetings, virtual craft groups, virtual coffee mornings sometimes including ex All Saints members from as far afield as Canada and South Africa.
No one can say that today’s church is outdated or irrelevant!
So this Sunday – Join All Saints Anglican Church Almancil in it’s uplifting, spirit-filled and positive antidote to Covid-19 – and you don’t have to leave home to do it!
For details on how you can join All Saints Almancil Zoom church contact Secretary@allsaintsalgarve.org or visit the All Saints Algarve Facebook page.
