Friends,

I hope this finds you well and healthy and at rest in the sufficiency of Christ for all things, even the disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. We are all learning new routines given the changes coming at us on an almost daily basis. We are thankful for the technology available for us to remain in touch even through social distancing! 

This Sunday we will live-stream a worship service—it will be available at 10AM on Sunday morning. You will be able to access it from our webpage. It might be a good idea to logon a couple of minutes before 10 just to make sure your connection is strong and audio works. We appreciate your patience as we work out the bugs through this means of presenting a service. If you’re unable to logon, or you miss the opportunity to tune in at that time, it will record and be available for viewing later. We are grateful for our tech crew that is making it possible for this to happen!

We don’t know how long we’ll need to connect this way, so keep checking our website for updates on this. That will be the best place for us to get information out to you in a timely way. We have some tech-savvy folks who have offered to provide assistance for any experiencing difficulty in using their devices. Most of that assistance will take place over the phone, so please let us know if you’d like that kind of help.

Our website will also be the place to find some helpful resources we’ll make available for you to use during this time of social distancing—things like how you can use this time as a family, or how to develop new rhythms in your spiritual life. We remain in prayer for you and ask for your prayers as well.

During our live-stream services, we’d like to present some insights you are gaining during this time. Everyone of us is experiencing the same crisis, but we’re dealing with it in ways unique to each of us. We want to remain connected with each other even though we’re not gathering, and sharing from our own experiences is a way to do this. So, use your smartphone or tablet to create a short clip of what’s happening at your house, in your neighborhood or community, and send it along to us in an email so that we can share it with the church community. We’re looking forward to hearing what you’re learning from God and from each other in this new normal.

And on that note, please let us know of your needs during this time. We have folks ready to help as they can during this time. There are some creative ways to stay in touch during all of this. Zoom has become a new friend to many of us. This tool can be used to hold meetings online, and you might consider how your small group might use this to keep in touch and sharing with one another even when we can’t gather. It’s easy to use—if you can use email, you can use Zoom. We have some tips on how to use this tool that we’ll post on our website for your use.

A time of crisis can cause disruption, but it can also be a time of new beginnings. Because many are now working from home, there is a bit more time in the day that isn’t spent commuting to work or school. How can you capture that extra bit of time to include a time of prayer or study? How might this time provide the space to connect more intentionally as a family? How might that time be used to connect through a call or an email to someone who might need some encouragement? If you live alone, how might this time lead you to practicing solitude? A friend who regularly blogs pointed out that there is a difference between isolation and solitude—rather than focusing on what is missed, focus on what is gained—time to be in a space before God without interruption and apart from an agenda. What might you hear from God during this time that you might otherwise miss because of a busy schedule? Let God speak in this moment that opens space for listening.

I’ll wrap up for now with a brief reminder to pray—for those at risk folks you know (and those you don’t), for those dealing with illness, and lift up a special prayer of thanks, blessing, and grace for health care providers—especially those you know as part of our fellowship—who are dealing first hand with the epidemic among us. We’re grateful for their efforts, and for your prayers on their behalf!

Warmly,
—frank