Some Enhancements for Drive-in Church

Four ways to worship on Sunday at 9:15 am:
Drive-in Church - drive up, tune your radio to 107.5 FM (formerly 99.9)
Walk-up Church - bring a chair/bike/beach blanket, stay six feet from your neighbor in our garden and grassy area, and listen to the service live.
Live-stream - go to AllAngelsLBK.org , click on the listen live button, and you will be routed to our YouTube channel. 
Zoom - go to  https://zoom.us/j/5955701807 and watch and listen live. Be sure to stick around after the service for our coffee hour chat-with-your-neighbor time. 


Bulletins will be available. Pam and Larry Elder will be our parking lot attendants - wearing protective gear - and will have a net with a pole to hand out bulletins as well as receiving offerings. For Live-stream and Zoom, the electronic bulletin will be available on our website. 

The service will be recorded and uploaded at around 11 am for those (especially on the West Coast) who prefer to watch on YouTube at their leisure. 
Some [more] Enhancements for Drive-in Church

All Angels Radio is on a new FM channel. Tune your radio to 107.5 FM .  Our old channel, 99.9, was getting interference from another station.

Thanks to the good work of Ethan Marshall, and the purchase of some additional wires and couplers, the sound quality from the outdoor speakers should be improved this week. 

We will also have a speaker facing the parking lot next to the tennis court for overflow parking and walk-ups.  
Online Giving

All Angels is now able to have an electronic offertory plate! Click the link here:

New Website

All Angels has a new website! Visit it at www.allangelslbk.org .

We would like to add to the Photo Gallery section of the website. If you have taken pictures at any recent event and are willing to share them, please email your photos to Maria at marialove@allangelslbk.org. We're especially looking for pictures from the Celebration of New Ministry, the Epiphany and President's Day concerts, Mardi Gras and similar events.
Charitable Giving

During this time many of us are looking for ways to help but want to be sure our monies get to where it is needed.
The Community Foundation of Sarasota (a vetted local organization) is sponsoring a Giving Challenge on April 28 and 29. Your contribution will be matched dollar for dollar.
Go to  givingpartnerchallenge.org  to learn more about this event which supports more than 700 nonprofits in Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte and DeSota counties.
ECW News

We are happy to report that your generous support and donations to the Mardi Gras event are on the way to those in need.
As you recall, we held the monies for Our Little Roses because the situation in Honduras has been so tenuous. They are under martial law. We have been advised by the home office in Miami that funds are getting through. Their budget is $70,000 a month to pay staff and buy food. Their income is from donations, which are down, and sponsorships. So our monies are badly needed. "A Godsend," the director told me, coming at this time. The girls are safe and well cared for and there is no virus at the school. 
The ECW executive board decided to send $5500 in two installments to the Miami home office where it will be wire transfered to their bank in Honduras.

I encourage you to go to their website to see how they are coping.

The remaining monies, $5000, was going to be directed to Rev Dee's medical mission to Honduras. In speaking to her, her team will not be returning to Honduras in the foreseeable future. She is in agreement that we should use the funds locally as the need is so great. We assured her that we will support her when it is safe for her and her team to return.
In reviewing locally charities, the executive board of ECW made the decision to donate $5000 to the Community Foundation of Sarasota where it will be matched by the Patterson Foundation. We designated Manatee and Sarasota counties. The funds will assist families directly in need to pay bills and meet their immediate needs. Please check out their website at: wwwcfsarasota.org

Gail Clay, President ECW
A Message about Outreach: Where your Donations Go

Children First: Children First serves the most at risk children and families in Sarasota County. During normal circumstances, our families struggle. In these extraordinary times, our families are facing a crisis of magnitude never seen before. They are struggling to meet the most basic needs of their children, while living with fear and uncertainty of their health, employment, housing and their child’s education. We must be a lifeline for our families and we need you to help. The four ways we are helping at this time are:
1. Prevent learning loss
2. Ensure basic hygiene
3. Support mental health
4. Provide emergency food 

Meals on Wheels - Plus: We are providing food to seniors who are isolated during the stay at home order. In the month of March, the number of seniors requesting assistance from Meals on Wheels PLUS of Manatee increased by 30% over the prior month. We are providing food to families via our Food4Families program, distributing thousands of meals each Friday to provide nutrition to families over the weekend In the last three weeks, we have provided 34,500 meals to families via the Food 4 Families program. We are providing food to nearly 100 food pantries and partner agencies in Manatee County We have already experienced a 20% increase in food being withdrawn from The Food Bank of Manatee and we anticipate the needs to grow exponentially over the coming weeks and months
Over the next several months, we will purchase thousands of dollars of food, leveraging our wholesale buying power, to provide food for people in need in the community.
Food Bank Barrel

Please bring non-perishable items for the Food Bank. The yellow barrel is next to the angel fountain. 
Leave a Puzzle, Take a Puzzle

During this puzzling time, the Marshalls are working on a variety of puzzles to have a quiet moment away from a busy household. We'd like to share puzzles with you. Near the Food Bank barrel, let's have a leave-a-puzzle/take-a-puzzle for anyone who'd like to try a new puzzle. 

Thank You of the Week
From Children First: Please share our sincere thanks to the entire All Angels congregation. I have included a video message below of appreciation from Children First regarding the early impact of your philanthropy. Some of the photos you see are from our food and care package distribution at our Dr. Elaine Marieb Center location yesterday.
Centering Prayer
 Centering Prayer invites you to pray with them, every day,
at 8 am, wherever you are. When you enter into prayer at 8 am (Eastern), you will know that others are praying at the same time. 
Men's and Women's Discussion Groups
The Men's and Women's Discussion Groups are now
on-line. If you are interested in joining, please email
Prayers for our People
Jesus said, “Do not be afraid. I am the gate. Whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out and find pasture; I came so that they could have life”
We pray for those who are sick, those who suffer; we pray for all who protect us both here and abroad, and for those on our prayer list; especially, Downs IV, Holden, Ruth, Timothy, Lynne, Don, Bill, Dorothy Jo, Valerie, Sue, Elizabeth, Kay, Vicki, Jim, Barbara, Ward, Krista, John, Cynthia, Alex, Linda, Andres, Jonathan, Ginny, Mary Ann, Ed, Carling, Sofia, Victoria and Carolyne.
We pray for John Maxheim who will be having surgery for tongue cancer, for Luanne Collins for her recent surgery and recovery, we pray for Tom Thomas as he recovers from a fall, and we pray in thanksgiving for Andrew and his successful recovery from surgery
We pray that the Holy Spirit comfort those who cannot visit their loved ones, and for those who cannot be visited, and we pray that the wisdom and love of the Holy Spirit descend upon those who care for those who are sick.
 
Sermons from the Reverend Dave Marshall
You can watch sermons from All Angels by clicking on the YouTube video below. Once you are there, click the "subscribe" button and then click on the bell icon to receive notifications. Once you do that, you will receive an email every time a new video is posted from All Angels.

Full Service from Sunday, April 26
Reflection
Solving for X

Now that Elijah and Ethan are learning-from-home I get to see more of Elijah’s day-to-day school work. The math that the fourth graders are doing is different than what I learned. I suppose the fundamentals are the same – two plus two still equals four – but the mechanics of it are different. One thing I struggled with in my math lessons was solving for X. Luckily, I have a patient mom who also taught math. I used to get frustrated and say, “Why don’t they just tell me what X is?!” As I learned, there are important lessons that one has to go through to figure out what is hiding behind the X.

I thought about this the other day when I felt as if I was risking my life at Publix. Coffee creamer is essential, right? There were two different brands in the cooler. One was on sale but usually has a higher price. I found myself solving for X to see which one was the better buy. Could it be that all those years after I complained about why do I have to learn this , could it be that I actually needed to know how to do it?

That got me thinking about the other times in life I had to solve for X. The first thing came to mind was being an underwriter for an insurance company. X is the rate of loss. I knew information on the insured, what they wanted covered, and how much coverage they needed. But, what I didn’t know, is if they would have a loss. As it turned out, I had a pretty good sense on how to solve that equation. Likewise, as a sales manager for a home electronic retailer, I got pretty good at approving checks. I saw the customer, what they wanted to purchase, and their check. Solving for X is this: would the check clear or not.

The leadership team at All Angels has been working diligently on solving for X in our time. X consists of a balance of safety, gathering for public worship, spacing and timing. It’s a pretty complex X. There will be a time when our doors will be open, but when? People, both those familiar to us and strangers, will be welcomed in. Where will everyone sit? How will we do communion that incorporates both touch and sharing the same air space? These are the X’s that we are solving. One of the lessons we have learned in our solving-for-X time is just how important it is for the people of All Angels to be together. I, for one, took for granted the weekly gathering together. The so-called “welcome line” that we did after the service probably won’t happen until after 2021’s flu season has ended. That “X” is partially solved. What remains is how to greet one another warmly, at a safe distance. Going back to the book of Ecclesiastes, “there is a time for embracing and a time to refrain from embracing.” Church history has had to deal with a number of X’s; starting with the first one – what to do with a crucified Messiah? From the early Church to now, we continue to solve for X, with God’s help. I believe that God is behind the X, in front of the X, to its left and to its right, God is above it and below it, and God is in us as we solve for X. 

-Fr. Dave