Dear Friends,
I hope this email finds you and your loved ones doing well. As I write this message, I am reminded of the words of one of my favorite hymns, "I Am the Church." Part of the lyrics of this hymn say,
The church is not a building,
The church is not a steeple,
The church is not a resting place,
The church is a people.
Although the doors of the church have been closed for several weeks, the ministry has continued. We have continued to provide worship services online (more about this below.) Hot Meals continues to serve those in need in our community. Members are finding ways to share in worship with one another. People are reaching out in many different ways to extend God's love and care to one another.
I am grateful that we are offering online worship opportunities. We have talked in our staff meetings many times about doing this. The present circumstances just forced us to move a bit earlier than expected. But, when this pandemic concludes and we look back at what we did, I will be more proud of our outreach to one another than how professional our worship videos were. Don't get me wrong, this is not an excuse for poor videos or ill-prepared sermons. We have been and will continue to do everything with the utmost of integrity. But when we look back at it all, I hope that our most meaningful representation of church is how we cared for one another in this time.
Below is some information that I think will be helpful as we move into Holy week.
Peace,
Howard
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In order to stem the spread of the coronavirus and for the health and safety of all our members and community, we have made the decision to extend the closure date of the church.
The church will be closed through the whole month of April.
During this time, instead of offering in-person worship services, we will offer a live version every Sunday at 10:00 a.m. on the church's Facebook page. You can choose to watch this live as it occurs or anytime on the church's Facebook page. We are also posting these services to the church website,
click here
. On the webpage, you can click the main header and it will take you to videos of the current and past worship services along with the video devotions from Lent.
While it is not the same as being together in worship, there are a couple of things you can do to enhance the experience.
- As we light the candles in the sanctuary, you can light a candle in your home.
- Share with us any joys or concerns you would like to have included in the service. You can email those to the pastors anytime during the week.
- Prepare your worship space by creating an altar (cross, Bible, flowers, etc.)
All sermons are posted on the church webpage if you would like to read them. If you would like to receive them via email, please contact the pastors; we would be glad to forward these to you.
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Sunday April 5, Palm Sunday
This week we will be incorporating
communion
into the online worship service. We invite you to have some bread and juice to join in this from home. We also encourage you to make a palm branch to wave during the service. You can do this with construction paper, printing one online or a live variation from your back yard. The sermon title is "Hearing the Whispers Amid the Shouts" from Matthew 21:1-11.
Maundy Thursday April 9th
This service will be posted on the church's Facebook at 7:00 p.m. The sermon title is "The Playbook Has Changed" with readings from John 13:1-17, 31b-35.
Good Friday April 10
This service will be posted on the church's Facebook page at 7:00 p.m. The sermon title is "What Happens Next" with readings from John 19:16-30.
Prayer vigil
In previous years we have invited folks to sign up to come to the church to pray from the end of the Maundy Thursday service until the beginning of the Good Friday service. In light of present circumstances, we are making two changes. We are planning to continue this, but without having folks come to the Chapel to pray. We invite you to sign up for an hour (or more if you'd like) to pray from your home. The other change is that we are extending the times. Sensing that more folks might find this a meaningful discipline and an opportunity to pray for one another, we are going to hold the prayer vigil from the end of the Maundy Thursday service until Easter morning. You can sign up
here.
Easter morning April 12
On this Easter morning, we will offer the livestream service on the church's Facebook page. The sermon title is "Quiet Resurrections" and the reading is from John 20:1-18. One thing several folks have asked about is the flowers for Easter. As of this writing, they are still scheduled to be delivered to the church next week. Connie Wilson is going to organize them in our sanctuary to give that familiar Easter perspective. We are still working on plans for how to distribute these safely and will let you know once a plan has been formed.
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Let me be frank for a moment. Did you know how to find the church on facebook before last week? Had you ever ordered groceries or other necessities online? Did you know how to get your medicines delivered to your door? We are all learning new things. If there are things you need help with, please don't hesitate to call or email. Even if we don't know the answer, perhaps it is something we can learn together.
These are times that call for our greatest creativity as we care for one another. We are continuing to call and email and reach out in the ways we can. If we are missing anything please let us know. If you are scared, lonely, worried, please do not hesitate to reach out to the pastors or staff members.
Let me offer one suggestion that Diane and I have found helpful. We have invited people to join us for dinner. Although we cannot meet in person, we can do so through zoom or a simple phone call. One night it was a phone call with some friends in Iowa. We talked on the phone while we shared good food, good wine and even better conversations. Diane has also done a video conference with her kids (living in Alabama and Michigan) and they have talked about having a game night together. Just because we cannot be together face to face, doesn't mean that the social interactions have to cease. I hope this might encourage you to think about how to stay connected with your friends and loved ones in this time.
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Giving
While we will not be gathering in-person for the next few weeks, we encourage you to give as you are able. Your gifts enable us to continue the kind of ministries that make God's love visible in our community and throughout the world. Tammy Fields has initiated the paperwork to begin to receive gifts online. We should have this available by next week and can convey this to you when that is ready. We continue to be able to meet our financial responsibilities and appreciate all your generosity. If you would like to mail your offering, you can send it to
First United Methodist Church, 618 8th Street, Columbus, IN 47201.
We are continuing to pick up the mail on a daily basis and checks are deposited weekly.
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I hope this answers some of the questions you may have for the coming week at First UMC. We will continue to keep you apprised of the ongoing developments and appreciate your willingness to share with us.
1 John 4 teaches two very important things. First, we are called to act out of love because love is from God (4:7). Secondly, we are told that perfect love casts out fear (4:18). These can be scary times. But together we will face all that comes with love. That will be our guiding principle as we meet the challenges ahead.
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Columbus First United Methodist Church
618 Eighth Street
Columbus, IN 47201
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