Greetings were brought by Anglican representatives from global regions – The Most Rev. and Rt. Hon. Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of All England, brought greetings from England, the UK and Europe.

The Most Rev. Miguel Uchoa, Archbishop of the Anglican Church in Brazil brought greetings from the Americas.

The Rt. Rev. Malcolm Richards from Sydney Diocese, Australia, brought greetings from Asia and Oceania.

The Most Rev. Laurent Mbanda, Archbishop of Rwanda and Vice-Chair of the Gafcon Primates’ Council, brought greetings from Africa.

The preacher for the service was the Most Rev. Foley Beach, Chairman of the Gafcon Primates’ Council and Archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America. Preaching from John 20.19-31, Archbishop Beach noted that the first thing the risen Lord Jesus did was to commission his disciples by saying, “As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.”

Jesus came to us, he said, in Incarnate Love, Servant Love, Sacrificial Love, and Steadfast Love. He concluded that Jesus is commissioning Archbishop Kaziimba – and all Christian leaders – in the same way. As the Father sent Jesus, so Jesus is sending the new Archbishop in this new ministry.

The Most Rev. Stanley Ntagali, retiring Archbishop, handed over the Provincial Staff to Archbishop Kaziimba, thus symbolizing the transfer of spiritual authority from one Archbishop to another. Archbishop Kaziimba was then seated in the Primatial Chair at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Namirembe.

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Rev. Stephen Kaziimba was today enthroned as the 9th Archbishop of the Church of Uganda.

In honour of the occasion, here’s a photo from @ubctvuganda‘s excellent archive. It shows the Archbishop of Canterbury–Geoffrey Fisher–preaching at Namirembe Cathedral on 6 April 1961. pic.twitter.com/toBbDB00kD

— Derek R Peterson (@Unseen_Archive) March 1, 2020

2. Physical interaction during services, including the Sign of Peace, should be suspended. Clergy may choose to give the congregation permission to carry out an alternative Sign of Peace that does not involve hand contact (e.g. a smile, nod or bow) if so wished. Shaking hands on greeting and departure at religious services/gatherings should be suspended. Observe good hand and general hygiene – thorough hand–washing with soap or sanitisers and disposal of tissues.

3. Stay at home if you feel ill and display influenza–like symptoms. The symptoms to be aware of in the case of the coronavirus include cough, shortness of breath, difficulty in breathing, and fever. Do not come to church services until you feel well.

4. The Church’s duty of care extends to members of the clergy. If you have influenza–type symptoms, do not call the clergy for pastoral visitation. Pastoral support for parishioners who are unable to attend church services should be provided by telephone or online (e.g. Skype).

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By comparison, Covid-19 is not especially life-threatening. According to the best available data at the time of writing, there have been about 85,000 confirmed cases worldwide, roughly 94% of them in China, and 78% of them in the province of Hubei. The implied global mortality rate is 3.4%, but that is surely an overestimate, because the denominator (total cases) is being underestimated by infected people who don’t feel sick or don’t check themselves in for medical care.

We also know that, unlike the “Spanish flu” of 1918-19, Covid-19 disproportionately kills the elderly and those with existing conditions, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes or chronic respiratory disease. Worry about grandparents: the mortality rate for people in their eighties is above 14%, whereas it’s close to zero for those under 40.

Yet those who blithely say, “This is no worse than the flu” — which will likely cause between 16,000 and 41,000 deaths in America this season — are missing the point.

What makes Covid-19 dangerous is not so much the threat it poses to the average person’s life, but the threat it poses to economic growth. Uncertainty surrounds it because it is so difficult to detect in its early stages, when many carriers are both infectious and asymptomatic. We don’t know for sure how many people have it, so we don’t exactly know its reproduction number and its mortality rate. There’s no vaccine and there’s no cure. Last week this uncertainty, crystallised by a leap in the number of Italian cases, gave the US stock market its worst week since the great banking crisis of 2008-9.

I have often been asked in the past few years where the next financial crisis will come from. I have said, time and again, that it will come not from America but from China, now the second-largest economy in the world. Sure enough. A pandemic is very different from a bank run, to be sure, but in each case we witness the same phenomenon, which is characteristic of a networked world: a cascade of consequences driven by fear of the unknown.

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“A Covid-19 outbreak in one or more large American cities would inflict a September 11-level hit on the US economy and a Hurricane Katrina-level hit on Trump’s popular approval.” https://t.co/mFHrDbe7eW

— Niall Ferguson (@nfergus) March 1, 2020

Blessed Lord, who wast tempted in all things like as we are, have mercy upon our frailty. Out of weakness give us strength; grant to us thy fear, that we may fear thee only; support us in time of temptation; embolden us in time of danger; help us to do thy work with good courage, and to continue thy faithful soldiers and servants unto our life’s end.

B.F.Westcott recalled today: Give us visions to bring back lost glory to the earth & dreams to foreshadow the better order you have prepared pic.twitter.com/owFHiYwvjQ

— David Newsome (@newsome_david) July 27, 2017

O God, thou art my God, I seek thee,
my soul thirsts for thee;
my flesh faints for thee,
as in a dry and weary land where no water is.
So I have looked upon thee in the sanctuary,
beholding thy power and glory.
Because thy steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise thee.
So I will bless thee as long as I live;
I will lift up my hands and call on thy name.

–Psalm 63:1-4