Re-opening church buildings – new pastoral direction expected soon
One-minute read. Bishop Marty has been meeting online with his fellow bishops and the clergy of the diocese to develop our plans to resume in-person worship.
Diocesan News
Weekly Reflection – Fourth Sunday of Easter
15-minute video. Welcome to Bishop Marty’s seventh reflection in this series. This week he talks briefly about returning to church and what that may look like while we maintain physical distancing. In this week’s reading, he talks about the Good Shepherd and God’s love for us no matter what.
Weekly Reflection – Third Sunday of Easter
19-minute video. We’ve changed our recording schedule so that you can view the weekly reflections in a more timely manner. This week, Bishop Marty talks about the planning behind returning to worshiping in our churches and Spiritual Communion.
Weekly Reflection – Second Sunday of Easter
19-minute video. This Sunday’s Gospel, John 20:19-31, allows us to compare and contrast the disciples’ self-isolation behind a locked door in Jerusalem, and our self-isolation from COVID-19. What came next for them was remarkable. What happens next for us might also be remarkable if we can ensure that what we do; comes from God, is for God, and is done with God.
Area Confirmations & Bishop’s visitations to be postponed
One-minute read. With Kansas City’s Stay-at-Home Order now extended to Friday, May 15, May’s Area Confirmations, and Bishop Marty’s visitations up until May 15 are being postponed.
The Rt. Rev. John Clark Buchanan 1933 – 2020
One-minute read. Believing in the Communion of Saints and the Resurrection to Life Everlasting, I ask your prayers for The Rt. Rev. John Clark Buchanan, sixth Bishop of West Missouri, who passed into Larger Life the evening of Wednesday, April 15, at his home in South Carolina.
Bishop Marty Issues New Pastoral Direction to the churches of West Missouri
One-minute read. This Pastoral Direction is published in the interest of public health and supersedes all earlier pastoral directions. All congregations and parishes should abide by this Pastoral Direction for the foreseeable future. It will be lifted as soon as possible.
Weekly Reflection – The Triduum
18-minute video. This week Bishop Marty discusses the Triduum; Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday and reflects on how this time of physical distancing makes us yearn for our times of closeness, fellowship and corporate worship.
Holy Week and Easter Sunday Services in West Missouri
How to find all the online Holy Week and Easter Sunday services from the Episcopal Churches in West Missouri.
Weekly Reflection – Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday
18-minute video. This week Bishop Marty reflects on Lenten fasting, and our continued fasting with love through physical distancing; the events of Holy Week, the diocesan-wide Easter Vigil and where is God?
Weekly Reflection – Fifth Sunday in Lent
18 minute video. In this week’s Reflection, Bishop Marty offer thanks for all the creative ways in which the leadership of our churches has responded to our need to change, plus news about the Easter Vigil.
Weekly Reflection – Fourth Sunday in Lent
15-minute Video. Welcome to the first in a series of weekly videos in which Bishop Marty reflects on the week’s events and the week to come. In this first video he discusses the unusual situation in which we find ourselves and reflects on the Gospel for the Fourth Sunday in Lent.
Additions to the Pastoral Direction on the Diocesan COVID-19 Response
Three-minute read. Updates and clarifications to the March 16 pastoral directions. Bishop Marty’s response to request for further information and guidance following the publication his pastoral directions on March 16. Note: this Direction has been superseded.
Prayer in the midst of an epidemic
Two-minute read. COVID-19 is causing disruption to our daily lives like no other circumstance in my lifetime. Not since W.W. II has the United States’ “home front” been forced to alter every aspect of our daily journey through life to the magnitude the coronavirus has already changed our routines. It is unprecedented.
From Bishop Marty
Bishop Marty shares with us a statement from the Bishops United Against Gun Violence on the recent shootings in Milwaukee, plus his sermons from the Commemoration of the Blessed Absalom Jones at St. Augustine’s in Kansas City, and the Last Sunday after The Epiphany at St. John’s, Neosho.
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Six-minute read. We are all following the news of increasing concerns about the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. While we don’t want to over-react, we also do not want to underestimate the potential of this situation. We’ve reproduced and summarized the best of the resources we’ve found.
Note: updated 3-12-2020.
Lent Around the Diocese
Lenten services and activities.
Diocesan Website Updates
One-minute read. We’ve made several updates to the Church Administration section of the diocesan website. And we’ve added Bishop Marty’s sermon from January 26.
Intern Opportunities
One-minute read. Interns are highly valued team members of The Diocese of West Missouri’s Formation programs. The Summer Intern program has two places available for young adults who graduated high school in 2019 or earlier. The new Ministry Intern is for young adults, at least 21 years old and who have discerned a call to ministry.
Bishop's Days 2020
In an abundance of caution, and in recognition of our responsibility to the greater community, at a diocesan staff meeting held on March 11, it was agreed to cancel Bishop Day’s South. We will be making the supporting documentation provided by the presenters available online, and looking at the possibility of holding some online sessions at a later date.
