Dear Church Family,
Not a day has gone by in the last week that I have not mourned the loss of our worship time together, of our fellowship, and of the strength that each one of you brings me when we are together in person. Please know my prayers are with you and I look with hope to the next time we can be together.
It is with a heavy heart that I bring you latest news. In the past week, so much has changed. Have you ever felt like you are trapped in a whirlwind and can’t see the light of day? That’s how I have felt. I struggled when Governor Wolf announced that we had to keep our gatherings to less than 50 people at the beginning of the week. After adjusting to that, Pastor James and I began to creatively imagine worship time together; the possibility of adding another service, or having an outdoor worship service. I thought to myself, I don’t like this rule, but we can work with it. Then as soon as we adjusted our plan, Gov. Wolf announced that there are to be no gatherings of more than 10 people for 15 days. The breath went out of me. He then further decided that we are a non-essential business and all corporate worship in person, meetings, and use of the building was to stop. And here we are.
The Spring Grove School District notified parents on Friday that beginning Monday, March 30th the students will switch to online learning indefinitely. The times they just keep changing.
The Center for Disease Control has extended the restriction of gatherings of 10 or more people for eight weeks or until May 10th. Therefore, your church council, with much sadness and regret, has suspended corporate worship, along with all in person meetings, and the use of our building until Sunday, May 17th.
What does this mean? There will be no regular office hours. However, as long as we are able, the staff will be coming in and out of the building as needed, but staggered. There are to be no in person meetings pertaining to church business. If your committee needs to meet, we encourage you to do so over phone or through Zoom. (I will be happy to give any committee chair who needs it access.) There will be no in person worship. There will be no outside groups using our building.
How will we stay connected? Every Monday we will mail/email out a weekly devotion. On Wednesday mornings we will provide Bible Study through Zoom at 10:00am. You can call from a landline or join us from a cell phone or computer. (More information is available through email, on our website, and on Facebook.) On Saturdays at 3:00pm we will gather for a virtual Coffee Hour where we check in with our church family and we pray together. Every Sunday at 9:00am we will have virtual worship or computer church, the link will then continue to be available any time after 9:00am to view at your leisure. There will be a link sent via email, on our website, and our Facebook. If you are able, please continue to support our ministry through your giving; as the ministry of our congregation continues to happen remotely, and we depend on your support. There are links to online giving on our website (Simply Giving or Give+), or you can mail in a check to the church, which one of the staff checks regularly. Pastor James and I will continue to text, call and email as best we can. And y’all please, please reach out to each other.
Pastor James will also have opportunities for our children, youth, and their families. He sent out a separate email for those families on Sunday. If you want more information for someone who is not currently on our children, youth and family newsletter list, please contact him. If you have pastoral concerns or needs from the office all staff are available by email or cell phone. Please reach out to us. Please share prayer requests. Please just text to ask how we're doing. We are missing you as much as you’re missing us.
Jesus' greatest command is this: “Love God with all your heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself.” Right now, the greatest act of love we can give is to stay home and stop the spread of this life-threatening virus. Please stay home, stay safe, and love your neighbor.
God’s Peace and Blessings,
Pastor Alison