#IECLB - Masks of Hope

Igreja Evangélica de Confissão Luterana no Brasil

We can not provide all the care we would like.  Time does not permit it; always someone else is in need of some compassionate service.  In these difficult times, many people have had to interrupt their professional activity or lose their jobs. For this reason, Igreja Evangélica de Confissão Luterana no Brasil (IECLB) Diakonia, in its various locations, has motivated organizations and faith communities to initiate diaconal campaigns, emphasizing the necessity that Diaconia must move on, even if in different ways, with care and hygiene, in the fight against the coronavirus.

The involvement of IECLB Diakonia and diaconal communities was great in the campaign for making masks. Several individuals, families, and communities of faith have been working hard, whether in sewing or in the donation of material. This activity is just one example of what so many people have done in the IECLB: placing their hands at the service of the diaconal Gospel of Jesus, assisting people in their sufferings. It is estimated that more than 20,000 masks have already been made and donated. 

In addition, there is a lot of love being donated: clothes, food distribution to promote human dignity, hygiene materials, information about prevention, listening to the tired people who needed care and comfort.

A diaconal action can save someone or minimize their suffering!

"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10.10

May the diaconal love of Jesus transform lives through these beautiful acts.

Diác. Dionata Rodrigues de Oliveira

Diác. Ma. Carla Vilma Jandrey

Coordenadora de Diaconia e Programa Diaconia Inclusão

Secretaria da Ação Comunitária

Igreja Evangélica de Confissão Luterana no Brasil

COVID 19 lockdown and community connections

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdown, social isolation, financial stress and insecurity about the future, have taken a toll on mental health and emotional well-being. Rev Christa Megaw, a Deacon in the Uniting Church in Australia, invited her congregation to consider ways to support people in their neighourhood. The responses were creative, and addressed the need for community connection despite the requirement for ‘social isolation’. 

After conversation with a local café owner with overwhelmed, anxious, and stressed customers, the church responded with donations to a Pay it Forward program to supply coffee to people through the café. 

The teenage shop assistants who continued to work, despite the stress caused by abusive customers and the threat of COVID-19, were so appreciative to be acknowledged with the gift of boxes of chocolates provided to local supermarket staff. 

School teachers and other school staff who were expected to continue to work, despite the lockdown, were experiencing stress as they tried to juggle face to face learning and the challenges of transitioning to online learning. The church gave packs of ‘Wellbeing’ cards to the teachers of four schools, to help them focus on caring for themselves, as well as their students. 

The church also delivered activity kits so families could do crafts with their children at home, which were then displayed on the glass windows and doors of the church buildings. 

While there was no ‘church in the building’ with the churches also in lockdown, the church found creative ways to be in the community, bringing some joy and welcome respite to those living with stress, anxiety and financial uncertainty due to the disruption brought about by COVID-19. 

Fiji - COVID 19 and Cycle Harold

 The Methodist Deaconess Order of Fiji had to manage both COVID-19 and Cyclone Harold in April 2020. They were able to support 2 Deaconesses serving in the outer islands with the provision of groceries. Houses had been blown down, and some neighbouring families had taken shelter with the Deaconesses. The Deaconess Order also provided food for vulnerable people on the street. In addition, the Deaconesses learned that children in most of the Methodist Schools had come to school without lunch due to the fact that most of their parents had been laid off work. The Deaconesses serving in schools were encouraged to work with teachers and parents to recognise the plight of the students, and to provide lunch packs.

(Deaconess Meresiana Kuricava is President, DIAKONIA Asia Pacific - DAP)

ELCIC and the pandemic

Here are two examples of how the ministry that two of our ELCIC deacons are involved in has changed due to the pandemic situations here in Canada. Deaconess Pam Harrington is a psycho-therapist from Ontario, and Rev. Karen Wedman is a diaconal minister serving in an administrative role with the Good Samaritan Society in Alberta.

Pam writes: I am doing therapy with people who have high anxiety due to Covid-19, trying to soothe their fears and anxieties and focus on what they CAN control in such an out-of-control time in history. People who are isolated sometimes lose touch with reality and are caught up in mixed messages on the media and can be easily manipulated, coerced and exploited. They also lose hope. It is helpful to have a community of support, so helping them build connections and find people they can relate to, either in social bubbles that are safe or by virtual means, is really important. 

Karen writes: I am serving on the EOC (Emergency Operations Committee) working on pandemic plans for the whole of our organization.  We meet each day and discuss current staffing issues, PPE (personal protective equipment), extra legislative requirements, employee support, etc. that is required in light of COVID. My role is still administrative, however, I send out a weekly devotion to all employees to lift them up in prayer and in gratitude for who they are and the work they provide. 

Karen works with another ELCIC deacon, Sarah Rudd, and says this:  Sarah is heavily involved at our care home that has over 75 cases of COVID. Unfortunately, the virus spread quickly and Sarah is assisting the care home, arranging extra shifts, meeting with residents and families, sitting with the dying and dealing with families who are grieving. As manager, Sarah is also coordinating the ministry of the other chaplains that have been brought into the care home to help at this time.

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed all of our lives and ministry. It is encouraging to see the ways Deacons are responding to the needs of those they serve, as those needs have changed during this pandemic. 

 

COVID responses in British Columbia

“And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of the least of these” Matthew 10:42

In a hot climate, a cup of cold water must have been a rare treat. I wonder what is a cup of cold water in the Pandemic in my context? I am a Canadian Anglican Deacon in Victoria, British Columbia.

Here, COVID has caused 195 deaths. Yet overdose deaths have climbed in the pandemic reaching a peak of 710 deaths as of June 2020. In June alone there were 175 deaths. We have more than one crisis. We have learned to social distance, wear masks and sanitize/wash our hands, but when the topic of a realistic, non-prohibition style response to substance use is raised, there is great resistance.  Might the cup of “cold water” be legal safe drugs? Could the cup of “cold water” be free alcohol to prevent painful nerve shattering withdrawal?

Hope and recovery walk hand in hand but the battle with addiction in times of isolation is difficult. Recovery at the best of times is complex. How can we offer nurture? People need the basics, safe secure housing, food security and respect. In recovery this is crucial along with access to treatment, supervised injection sites, safe available drug/medication supply.  They need supportive relationships as do their families who are further isolated by stigma.

We offer trauma informed yoga, online weekly meditations on scripture and the AA 12 steps, prayers, 5th steps, education/awareness, conversation, advocacy for change, information on community resources; from online AA meetings, to agencies who specialize in substance use needs. Our staff and volunteers from the congregation participated in the 3rd overdose prevention Naloxone training. We are working to offer a cup of “cold water” in Pandemic times.

Rev. Canon Nancy E. Ford, Director of Deacons

Deacon to the City out of Christ Church Cathedral,

ELCA responses to the pandemic

The Deaconess Community of the ELCA answered our question: "What losses and opportunities have members of the Deaconess Community of the ELCA experienced as they faithfully respond to their diaconal calls and work for the flourishing of all God’s creation?" They shared....

~ Sr. Shana Williams (pictured above):  The pandemic has affected my call mainly in a loss of in-person interaction with students, families, and colleagues. It has made everything we do exponentially more difficult. It has highlighted our strengths as a tiny school district, which lie in the relationships and trust we build with students and families.

~ Sr. Melinda Lando: As a healthcare provider, the impact of COVID-19 has forced me to adjust the care I provide to my patients. It has meant hot having direct, face to face, contact with my patients, but rather via telehealth. While this is better than no contact with them, I miss the direct, face to face and physically present  encounters. I've missed this tremendously.    

~ Sr. Clare Josef-Maier: As a campus minister, I realized with dismay that students whose worlds were turned upside down with the pandemic were going to look to me for wisdom and stabilizing. My own capacity to serve them felt like it was crumbling: no more in-person connections through which to gauge their individual needs and support their communal life together, information changing as often as I changed my clothes, my own bearings shaken by the personal impact of the pandemic to my family. But this experience has reminded me that narrow/antiquated definitions of leadership hold us back - the mere presence of caring engagement and accompaniment alongside students as they "surf the waves" of this time empowered their resiliency both as individuals and in community to one another.

 ~ Sr. Kriss Buss: As a hospital chaplain, I have lost the familiar space to grieve with patients and families and staff as they grapple with illness and the rhythm of life and death. In the midst of the pandemic, safety and responsible fear has separated so many families and patients and created many limits on our physical interactions, at the most emotionally charged times. And yet I have learned that there is a breaking in of love and grace in phone calls, the opportunity to hold someone's heart from a distance of six feet or sixty miles. I have learned that we become more aware of deep connection to one another when we must be aware of the distance. I am thankful for constantly thinking of new ways to care for my patients, families, and staff each day as we uphold the sacredness of life and death.

 ~ Sr. Dottie Almoney: The losses I have experienced in my call as a parish Deaconess is the loss of physical community. What I have gained is the knowledge that we can reach more people if we keep incorporating zoom for meetings and learning as well as worship that is live streamed after this pandemic is over!

~ Sr. Mary Arie: We live in a crazy time - what we took for normal is now a mere memory. I am called to pastor two small rural churches - everything is different. The way we do funerals is the most impacted - at the gravesite - no close contact with family. But the Holy Spirit is still comforting the loved ones. The words of comfort are still being said. To be flexible is the key. 

ProGente Connections’s Pandemic Respons

 A Deacon founded and led nonprofit near Boston, MA

 ProGente Connections is a coalition of Episcopal, Lutheran (ELCA) and Presbyterian (PCA) churches empowering and supporting the huge population of Brazilians living west of Boston, MA.  A Lutheran and an Episcopal deacon were instrumental in its founding.  PGC has served immigrants for several years with English classes for adults, children’s Portuguese classes, immigrant rights advocacy, citizenship help, and Orientation to American culture classes.    

 Amid an unprecedented political attack against immigrants, the US immigrant community is experiencing a storm of fear, illness, legal jeopardy, unemployment, isolation and hostility. Most are not eligible for government payroll loans, unemployment benefits, medical insurance or food aid.  Many lost service sector jobs or businesses.  Many are exposed to the virus daily with limited protective gear or information about its use. Childcare is gone and evictions loom.   Coming from areas with no rule of law, many people are terrified by recent US social unrest.  Extended families are in danger of infection in Brazil.  

 ProGente Connections has assembled practical aid such as food and cleaning supplies.  It is tapping local churches and charitable organizations for support for current needs, while moving all possible programs online.   PGC currently serves 47 families.  

 (Photo: Lori Mills-Curran, Deacon, Episcopal Church, Boston)