FROM RACHEL YATES, PRESBYTERY EXECUTIVE
 WHAT WILL WE KEEP?
With all that is disrupted these days, it's harder to look for what is good.  We have to be more intentional about looking.  Then, we are surprised to see the signs of life.

In Venice, the canals - usually murky and brown - are becoming clear due to the lack of boat traffic.  As the sediment settles, people now see fish through the clear water.  And dolphins!  Dolphins are swimming where boats used to clog the waterways.

In China, the shutdown of industry has brought ... ( READ MORE )
PRESBYTERY PULSE
A SERVICE FOR THE 5TH SUNDAY OF LENT
The past few weeks liturgy for Lent had been emailed to churches and pastors as an option to help facilitate worship in this challenging time.  In an effort to reduce the number of emails you receive from the Presbytery Office, service liturgy will now be made available through Fresh Impressions, the Presbytery homepage, and in the Worship Resources section of the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Updates & Resources web page.  Please find A Service of Worship for the 5th Sunday of Lent here.
SPIRITUAL DIRECTION FOR CHURCH STAFF
Jean Dow has graciously offered to provide Spiritual Direction at no cost during this difficult time for clergy and church staff.  If you are interested in speaking with Jean, please contact her via email: jeandow@immanuelwi.org
COVID-19/CORONAVIRUS PRESBYTERY RESOURCE PAGE
Tuesday, March 17th, the Presbytery launched a COVID-19 resource page with tips for online worship, financial matters, online meetings, and more.  This will be our central location for all updates and resources, although we'll also have conversations on Facebook.  We want to hear how you are showing care for your leaders, your church, and your community, and even where you are finding hope and possibility.  So, please stay connected with us!
WORSHIP RESOURCES AND OPPORTUNITIES
Given the current climate and conditions, the Presbytery Office is trying to provide as many resources and opportunities for worship as possible.  To do this, we would like to compile a list with active web links to worship services -- text or visual -- that can then be shared via email, social media, and our website resource page.  If you are providing a weekly worship resource for your congregation, please consider sending it to Kate Hopta to include in our Presbytery information.  If possible, please send information by 3:00 p.m. on Fridays.  If you will be streaming a service, let us know and we will try to also link it to the Presbytery facebook page.
SHARE YOUR DAILY PRAYER
If you've visited the Presbytery COVID-19/Coronavirus Resource Page hopefully you've noticed the daily prayer being offered.  If you would like to submit a prayer to be published, please send your prayer with name and church or location to Chris Halverson.  
ANYTHING BUT COVID-19 NEWS
REQUEST YOUR ABSENTEE BALLOT 
Voter information looks a little different that has in the past and dead lines have been extended.  Online registration and absentee ballots for the April 7, 2020, election has been extended through March 30.  Find more information about registering to vote and requesting your absentee ballot here.
COMPLETE THE 2020 CENSUS
The time is now.  Help shape your future, and your community's future by responding to the 2020 Census.  For the first time, you can choose to complete the census -- just a few simple questions about you and everyone who is or will be living with you on April 1, 2020 -- online, by phone, or by mail.  Find all the information you need to complete the 2020 Census here.  
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR TWO CERTIFIED ECC CHURCHES
Faith Springs Presbyterian Church and Wauwatosa Presbyterian Church have both been recertified as Earth Care Congregations by the Presbyterian Hunger Program through February 2021.  This honor speaks to the great commitment that these congregations have made to care for God's earth.
 
Started in 2010 by the PC(USA), the goal of this program is to inspire churches to care for God's earth in a holistic way, through integrating earth care into all aspects of their church life.  To become an Earth Care Congregation, both congregations affirmed an Earth Care Pledge to integrate environmental practices and thinking into their worship, education, facilities, and outreach.  The Earth Care Congregation certification is designed to recognize churches that make the commitment to take seriously God's charge to "till and keep" the garden. 
PRESBYTERIAN COLLEGE STUDENTS CAN NOW APPLY FOR A $4,000 SCHOLARSHIP
Presbyterian Church (USA) students seeking their first associate or bachelor's degree are encouraged to apply now for scholarship awards through Presbyterian Mission Agency's Financial Aid Service.  Learn more about scholarship opportunities and how to apply here.
GET READY FOR EARTH DAY SUNDAY
Spring is around the corner and that means it's time to plan for Earth Day Sunday in April.  Churches looking for ideas can download the "Fierce Urgency of Now" Earth Day Toolkit.
NEWS FROM THE DENOMINATION
PASTORAL LETTER FROM J. HERBERT NELSON & DIANE MOFFETT
Dear Siblings in Christ,
These are truly trying times for all of us as we face a rapidly spreading virus, panic buying that has left grocery shelves nearly empty and supplies in great demand. We have seen the worst in  people and the best. Yet, through it all, we take hope in Christ and the promise to never leave us.
We are holding each of you in prayer. Like the rest of the country, our Presbyterian communities are...( READ MORE).
GENERAL ASSEMBLY STATED CLERK ADVISORY OPINION: 
COMMUNION IN AN EMERGENCY/PANDEMIC
The Rev. Dr J. Herbert Nelson, Stated Clerk of the PC(USA) General Assembly, has issued an Advisory Opinion regarding Communion in times such as these.  This Advisory Opinion differs from the advice given earlier in March 2020.  
ZOOM WORSHIP LABORATORY
Former General Assembly Moderator Bruce Reys-Chow recently shared with Presbyterian Outlook how his current church, First Presbyterian Church in Palo Alto, CA, is practicing social distancing by worshiping online.  Rev. Reys-Chow will be hosting a Zoom Worship Laboratory every Monday through May at 10:00 a.m. CST.
CORONAVIRUS AND YOUR MEDICAL BENEFITS
Effective immediately, all three medical options (PPO, EPO, and HDHP) will pay 100 percent of the cost -- Medical Plan members pay no deductive, copay, or copayment -- for coronavirus testing when done by a network provider.  If you're enrolled in Medicare Supplement, Medicare pays 100 percent of the cost for lab testing for the coronavirus.

In addition, if you are enrolled in the PPO or EPO options, all copays when using Teladoc throug June 30, 2020, will be waived.  You will be charged the $10 copay at the time of the visit, and it will be automatically reimbursed within approximately seven days of the  date that the claim is processed.  If you are enrolled in the HDHP, the cost for a Teladoc visit is $45.  Read more about coronavirus and Board of Pension benefits here.
CORONAVIRUS E-LEARNING AVAILABLE FROM BOARD UNIVERSITY
One of the best precautionary measures we can take is to arm ourselves with accurate information about the coronavirus as well as an awareness of the resources available to us.  Board University brings you the e-learning course COVID-19: What You Need to Know.  This course contains a comprehensive overview of the coronavirus to help educate yourself and those around you.  Access this course and other Board e-learning through Benefits Connect.
COVID-19, THE CORONAVIRUS
GOV. EVERS ISSUES "SAFER AT HOME" ORDER
Gov. Tony Evers just sent out his "Safer at Home" Order. The order is effective at 8 am on Weds., March 25, 2020 and will remain in effect until 8 am Fri., April 24, 2020, or until a superseding order is issued.
Read the full Press Release:  https://bit.ly/2xlM7Xg
Read the full order:  https://bit.ly/2y61xiQ

PREPARING FOR "SAFER AT HOME"
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers is set to issue a "Safer at Home" order on Tuesday, March 23. Prior to the specific language being released, the WCC developed resources for faith leaders to help them comply with these orders.
 
This resource includes the following sections:
* What is our role?
* What do we need to prepare for?
* Background
* Recommendations for Religious and Pastoral Services
* Recommendations for Church Business
* What do I need to do right now?
CORONAVIRUS INFORMATION: WHAT TO DO IF YOU THINK YOU NEED CARE
Explore resources from the Board of Pensions and other service providers and information about Medical Plan and Medicare coverage, coronavirus symptoms, when to seek medical attention, and how to go about getting tested here.
INVITATIONS
PILGRIM CENTER AND MOON BEACH SUMMER CAMP
The Pilgrim Center-UUCI has its summer program dates available, and registration is open on their website.  Session fill up fast, so be sure to register as soon as you can!  Milwaukee Presbytery offers youth camper scholarships.  Don't leave home without one!
COMFORT FOOD: A FEAST OF LOVE LITURGY
Dr. Marcia McFee has developed liturgy that offers a way to "break bread" together in online worship that recalls the wider table ministry of Jesus.  The liturgy can be found here.

From Dr. McFee:  Friends, this brief ritual is offered as a way of "breaking bread" on a week that would "normally" involve Holy Communion while we are "sheltered in place" and not able to physically gather together...This ritual is meant to be inserted into your Sunday worship and is a way to recall Jesus' wider table ministry and break and share comfort and love in such a manner that people do not feel deprived of "gathering at the table" while physically separated. To help create the sense that this is not a "communion substitute" at home, I would urge leaders in the worship space to not use what looks like your typical communion bread and cup but instead set the "table" in your worship space to resemble our at-home tables, with breakfast and coffee/tea/orange juice. If you have a few people leading via livestream and you are able to be at a distance around the table in your worship space, pull up some chairs/stools around it to extend the metaphor of early agape table/meals. 
CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION SKILLS FOR CHURCHES
The Lombard Mennonite Peace Center invites you to attend Conflict Transformation Skills for Churches (CTS), a practical workshop for pastors, council members, judicatory leaders, and all those interested in improving their ability to handle conflict effectively. This outstanding inter-denominational training event will be hosted by New Vision Church in Pewaukee, WI (near Milwaukee) from 9:00am-4:30pm on Saturday, June 6, 2020 (registration begins at 8:30am). Individuals who register no later than May 22, 2020 can save $10; group discounts for up to $20 per person are also available. 

Register by going to https://www.brownpapertickets.com/producer/720852 or by submitting the form found on the CTS brochure. 

To receive the group discount, fill out a registration form for each member of the group and also submit the Group Discount Coupon (valid until May 22). Both the brochure and the coupon are available at https://lmpeacecenter.org/brochures/. 

For more information, email at Admin@LMPeaceCenter.org, call 630-627-0507, or visit https://lmpeacecenter.org/. Thank you!
MISSION OPPORTUNITIES
UPDATE ABOUT EMILY TEERINK
We have learned that our Young Adult Volunteer from Immanuel, Emily Teerink, is being recalled from Zambia due to the coronavirus.  She and many YAV's are facing the difficulty of saying goodbye to host families and ministry colleagues, whom they have grown to love.  Please join with the whole Presbytery in praying, 
"We give you thanks, O God, for the call to service placed on the hearts of Emily and her fellow YAVs.  She accepted your call - twice - to be among your people in Zambia and to join them in the ministries you have put before them.  Now, circumstances have put a different call in their midst:  a call to come home.  We lift to you, Compassionate God, the disappointment, grief, guilt, and lost opportunities that she and all YAVs will feel from this separation.  Keep their spiritual connections alive, even as they separate from each other in body.  If it is your will, reunite them in the joy that we are indeed one body in Christ.  Amen."
UPDATE FROM TOM GOETZ IN SAPPORO JAPAN
Greetings in Christ from Sapporo, Japan.

Grace and peace. These two words are gaining in importance each day. Japanese are really disappointed with how their government responded to the current problem. Relying on body temperature camera scans of people entering Japan when it was public knowledge that those infected would not develop a fever for up to two weeks did little to ensure confidence. Then, with the cruise ship stuck in Yokohama, the government forcing all on board into quarantine. Ships are the worst places to quarantine people. While I am not going to go into detail, there were...(READ MORE)
HOT LINKS
A Year in Zambia  - YAV Emily Teerink's Blog - Relief and Development
Grapevine - Presbyterian Women's Newsletter
Keeping In Touch  - Newsletter from the Synod of Lakes and Prairies 
Life in the Labyrinth - Inspirational Website by Michelle Henrichs
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance - Current Information
The Sower - February 2020 Newsletter for the Presbyterian Women in the Synod of Lakes and Prairies
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY
University Christian Ministries (UCM) seeks   COOK FOR 2020
FUTURE PRESBYTERY GATHERING DATES

2020 Presbytery Gathering Posters and Bulletin Inserts are available for download and distribution!

  • SATURDAY, May 16, 10:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. - Carroll University, Waukesha
  • TUESDAY, September 29, 4:00-8:00 p.m. - Apostle Presbyterian Church, West Allis
  • THURSDAY, November 12, 4:00-8:00 p.m. - Covenant Presbyterian Church, Racine 

Presbytery of Milwaukee
414-292-2740
khopta@pbymilwaukee.org
http://www.pbymilwaukee.org