Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I hope and pray that all of you are safe, healthy, and well, and abiding by the directive to stay at home. While I certainly miss seeing all of you on a regular basis, it has been nice to see so many of your names and comments on our Facebook Live services. I'm thankful that we can continue to keep in touch and worship together that way during this time. That said, I wanted to take a few minutes to update you on/address a few items of business.
First, I know that many of you are probably wondering when we will be able to come back together for worship. I wish that I had a concrete answer to that, but the reality is that I don't. So much of the when is going to be determined by the decisions of our state government, and, at present, we haven't had any concrete dates or times put down for us about that. Right now, we are still under the stay-at-home order until June 10th, so that is the minimum date for a possible return to worship, but, at the same time, with the continued rise of cases in our area, there are still so many unknowns with regard to that.
As to the how, the Bishop informed us clergy today that the she and the Diocesan leaders are currently putting together a phased return program. What this means is that when we are finally given the okay to start returning to worship, we should not expect it to be an all-at-once move. More than likely, it is going to be a gradual process, unfolding over time, in which we will need to follow the instructions that we receive from the Bishop and the Diocese, and all of it will, of course, be structured to make sure that everyone is safe and no one is placed at risk.
So, all of this is to say that it will probably be quite some time before we can all be back together in worship, Bible studies, etc. But that is okay. During this time, remember, we are not closed, we have just moved. We'll continue to gather online for worship each Sunday at 10am on Facebook Live and each morning at 9am Monday-Thursday for Morning Prayer. If you haven't been joining us, I would certainly encourage you to do so.
The second thing I want to address with you this week is giving. Over the past few weeks, we've noticed that our giving has dipped quite a bit. That said, this is just a friendly reminder to please try to remember to keep up with your pledges. I know that it's easy to forget to send in your pledges when you're not coming to church. One suggestion is to talk to your bank about setting up an automatic withdrawal system in which your pledge can be sent from your bank to the church each week. Holly and I personally do this, as do a number of the rest of you, and we find this to be a very easy way to make sure our pledge gets in on time. In advance, let me say thank you to all of you for your faithfulness in this.
The third thing I want to draw to your attention is the fact that starting this Sunday, we will be offering our Genesis Bible Study online on Sunday morning at 11am. This study will be made available through Zoom, which is an interactive video call program that can host up to 100 people. Right now, 40 of you have signed up, which is wonderful! If you haven't signed up, please do so by this Thursday (4/23) to make sure that I can get you added to the email list.
Part of the reason why we're using Zoom for this, rather than me just recording a video for you, is that it allows us to have some interaction with one another. I think that many of us are probably feeling the need for that interaction right now. With that said, we are going to be picking up with Genesis 18, which is where we left off prior to the start of the pandemic. I do know that a number of you will be joining for the first time this coming Sunday, but please don't be intimidated or turned away because of where we're starting. I am going to use this coming Sunday (April 26th) to reset the scene for us, so that everyone is caught up and able to move forward together. I'm really looking forward to this!
The fourth and last thing I want to note this week is really just a reminder that I am working from home now and that I am not at the office. That being the case, please don't call the office looking for me and also note that if you leave a message there, I probably won't get it for awhile. It is much better to call me on my cell or email me at frkyletomlin@comcast.net during this time.
That's all for this week. Please take care of yourselves and I hope to see you all online this coming Sunday! God's peace to all of you!
Yours in Christ,
Kyle+