March 13, 2020
Hello Church!
Wow these are unprecedented times and they call for unprecedented measures. Thankfully our local Health Departments have taken bold action in protecting all of us from this impending pandemic. Yesterday, they requested no gatherings over 25 people and while it is unclear whether or not that applies to churches, worship is not immune to viruses.
In order to protect the most vulnerable among us, the Governing Council has voted to move our worship services online until further notice. You can join us for worship from your very own home on Facebook Live at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday. The service will then be archived on Facebook and available from our website shortly after. If you are able to join us at 10:00, please do, as we will be able to see that you are present and interact with you.
CLICK HERE to follow us on Facebook
Other news: The Corned Beef Dinner scheduled for Saturday, March 14 is cancelled for now. Pastor Becky putting together a call sheet so that we can keep daily tabs on one another. If you would like to be part of that calling team, please let her know. The Serious Soup team is considering a takeout format. Wednesday Lenten gatherings are suspended. The Mission Ministry Team will discuss how we all can best be church with and for our neighbors. There will be no weekly eWord this week as we work to figure out the status of our other events.
Church, now is the time for our faith to be real. Our regular worship together has prepared us to be church out in the world for times like these. First, take care of yourself: Stay informed, stay safe. Keeping down the transmission of this virus (meaning you limiting your activities) will save lives. Second, now is the time be the best neighbor: Check in on friends and strangers, share what others are hoarding.
Together we will choose faith over fear. Join us for that message on Sunday!
Peace to you all,
Rev. Rebecca White Newgren, Pastor Jim Delmore, Moderator
P.S. Yes this is coming from me! As of March 10th (the sixth month mark of my brain injury), I have resumed my role as Head of Staff (most grateful to Becky for taking this on while I was out). I am still only able to work up to 40% time but glad to be able to lead the church in this time of global crisis.