A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM PASTOR BOB

Dear Parish Family, 

We are facing difficult times.  Over the next few months, as the whole country deals with the Corona Virus, we are going to pull together, and we will get through this with the help of the Lord Jesus and each other. 

There are a number of things that we at Advent will be doing in the days to come and some things that we can do for each other. 

First off, while our normal Sunday worship was suspended for this week, we will still be able to worship together every Sunday morning at our usual 10:00.  For those who  feel comfortable in coming to church will have our normal worship service.   We will ask folks to spread around the sanctuary even (GASP) to the point of sitting in the front pew.  There will be no Sunday school for the children and we won’t have fellowship after church.  We’ll just “pray and go”. 

For those who don’t feel comfortable with this, our worship will be done “online”, and you can worship with us from the comfort of your home.   

Either after the service or during the week, I will be available to bring communion to any of you in your homes who can’t make it to church.  We will take appropriate precautions so that we will all be protecting each other from contamination.  But together, we will sustain our worshiping community.  If you need help figuring out how to tune in, give a call and we will have someone help you get onto the program. 

Another thing that we can do is to utilize our phone tree. Each  Council member has a copy of the phone tree and I am going to ask each one of them  to make a commitment to call the other people on their parts of the tree every week just to check in. This will help us to remain connected and assist each other as we all struggle through these hard times. 

You may contact the church with prayer requests and our prayer chain will incorporate them into our cycle of prayer. 

If you are “a seasoned citizen”, or if you become ill, there are younger people in the church who will do your shopping for you.  The mechanism for this is still being established, but hopefully this will be up and running soon. If you need help in the meantime, let us know. 

Finally, we will have the last session of the Bible study on March 26 at 5:30.  We will utilize the church and will spread around so we are not too close to one another. 

Above all, remember that I am keeping all of you in my prayers.  I have been thinking a lot lately of a book I read as an undergraduate while studying philosophy.  The book was The Plague by Albert Camus. It was a fictional account of when the Black Plague hit Algeria, and how the people survived. The fear was great, and the disease took many victims. But the community took care of each other and, after the plague subsided, was stronger for the experience.  

We too will survive this and we too will be stronger for it.  Keep your prayers strong, and tune into our Sunday morning service.  Day by day, with the Love of the Lord surrounding us, we will get through these times and be a stronger community on the other side of this challenge. 

Sincerely and faithfully yours, 

Pastor Bob