Dear Friends in Christ,
Peace to you as the season of Easter bursts forth! What glorious warmth and sunshine we experienced the last two days.
(1) Last Sunday, we had a lovely Easter service of worship outside in the fellowship garden. Thanks to all who joined us in person as well as virtually through our pre-recorded service. Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia and amen.
(2) Two weeks ago, Metro Sound and Video arrived to install our long-awaited Sanctuary AV Upgrade. Two discretely located cameras are set up in the Sanctuary to livestream worship and other services, along with the equipment to run the system in the church office. The zoom on the cameras is quite remarkable, I'm told - for example, you can easily read the Bible that sits on the communion table! In addition, we hardwired connections to both Wallace Moore and the Lounge that nows allows us to broadcast the service live to both of those locations. Many thanks to Betsy Crosswhite, John Phelan and Pete Holtermann, who were instrumental in the process.
Our Strategic Planning Committee met this week and will be presenting a plan to Session next Monday to resume in-person worship on Sunday, April 25. We will share more details with you next week with our timeline and all the protocols in place to keep our church and community safe.
(3) We continue to host the clients of Family Promise here at the church building through May 2. We are grateful for our longtime mission partnership with Tracy McKeithen, the executive director, and their dynamic organization. Because of covid protocols, we are not providing and eating dinner with the families or having overnight hosts. But we hope that will resume in the near future. If you would like to support Family Promise, please get in touch with church members, Kara Hughes or Rick Drake. Please hold the families in prayer as they work, go to school, get back on their feet and learn new skills in the midst of an uneven economy.
(4) Finally, I've heard from dozens of you who are so grateful to have recently been vaccinated. I celebrate with you! What a precious gift. We are fortunate in the U.S. to have adequate supply, comparatively speaking, and to be moving through the distribution slowly but surely. Arianne and I recently received our first dose of the Moderna vaccine when we became eligible on March 29. And I'm thrilled to report that the whole church staff either already has their first shot or has it scheduled for the coming days. Getting vaccinated is one tangible way we can love our neighbor.
Please reach out if you are having trouble navigating websites or phone systems. It seems like this is improving, but there were a number of headaches there for a while. If you live in Wilmette, I've heard the Community Caretakers Program is very responsive and helpful in getting an appointment. I know other municipalities have similar services. Just reach out and we'll do what we can to help!
As I close, here's a prayer from Corrymeela, a residential and retreat center in Northern Ireland that has written a daily prayer for community since the pandemic began over a year ago. This is the prayer from Easter morning. I invite you to recite it with me.
God of unbounded joy, God of undying love: women went to a tomb to tend to the crucified dead. They came back the first preachers of resurrection. As we come back from this tomb of grief and begin to live again, may we proclaim with unbridled joy what the world is dying to hear: that death is not the end; that love remains what is most divine; and that God continues to live in the beating heart of our humanity. Amen.
With gratitude and hope in Christ,
Pastor Jeff
