Photo courtesy of Frank and Kathleen Ober - Mesa Verde Colorado
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Planning for the Faith Church Community
When will we gather in-person? That question is still unanswered as of this week. The Task Force for Regathering met again this week to discuss our planning, our challenges, and our possible next steps. Our meeting of 20+ people highlighted the range of comfort levels of what feels safe to individuals and families. Our plan is in its second draft. This regathering plan, when completed, will go to the Vestry for review and approval (a number of Vestry members are on the TFR), and will be sent to the Bishop’s Office. The plan will then be sent to the congregation so that all will know what the guidelines and policies are.
There are many challenges. As of today, many of our sanitizing and cleaning products are on backorder. The Task Force group had lots of concerns about encouraging and “enforcing” compliance with regathering policies. Arrival time for events, seating compliance, mask use, maintaining proper physical distances, availability of volunteers for things like signing people in (greeters/ushers), volunteers for cleaning and sanitizing following services/small groups, tracking service attendance reservations, ongoing availability of sanitizing products – these are some of the concerns moving forward.
As you know, many of the parts of Sunday worship that we all love the most will not be part of any near future regathering. Hugging and chatting with friends before the service, fellowship over a cup of coffee and a cookie (or two), singing during the service, hearing the choir sing, passing the peace with a hug or a handshake, standing in line to receive the bread and the wine – these are not things we will be doing.
This is a hard time in every way. We miss seeing each other. We miss gathering in our sacred space. We miss the beautiful music of Rosie and the choir. We miss receiving the sacrament of Holy Communion. But we must be safe. The re-opening of many parts of our economy has resulted in expected upticks in COVID cases. While El Dorado County residents may feel safer than other parts of the state, the numbers are increasing here and in Sacramento and Placer counties where many parishioners live and shop and have exposure.
What we are doing is expanding the ministries and involvement in our online Sunday worship. By changing our streaming platform, we are able to have multiple readers and clergy. Who didn’t love seeing the Goodness family as readers last Sunday? Rosie has been hard at work safely recording choir members singing individually in her studio and then creating mixes with multiple voices for the hymns and songs on Sundays. Creativity and resiliency are all around us!
Please continue to hold the leaders and planners of Faith Church in prayer. Decision making is hard with so much at stake with our lives and our emotional well-being. This is nothing like what I had imagined or hoped my last months and weeks with you would be like. I am grieving that I will not celebrate the Eucharist with you before I leave or hug each of you. I am clinging to God’s loving care and to the promise that God’s love is prevailing. May God’s peace be with us.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Liz
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10 a.m. Live Stream Worship Service
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You can view the worship service on Facebook Live and you do NOT have to sign up for Facebook. Simply click the link below.
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Realm® -
More than Just Giving
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Mailing Address for Donations:
Faith Episcopal Church
PO Box 966
Shingle Springs, CA 95682
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Faith Church is now using Realm
–what does that mean? It means you have a lot of new options for connecting with Faith Church through giving, small groups, your directory profile and more.
If you have not already joined Realm, you should receive an email invite from Faith Episcopal Church this weekend. If you do not receive that invite and wish to explore, please contact Lynne Thomas,
lgthomas5256@gmail.com
The new system allows you to:
- Join Groups
- A current group is Faith Episcopal Church (all active members)
- Give Online
- Register for scheduled Events (includes future onsite worship services & studies)
- Participate in Discussions
- Monitor Your Giving/Pledge History
- Maintain Your Own Profile Info (including updating your photo)
Online Giving through Realm has been running for over a month now – and it is working beautifully! If you do not wish to use online giving, you can still use Realm to view your giving history (for the past 5 years.) Your pledge information is also available for you to see, including remaining amounts.
Realm will replace the Instant Church Directory application by the end of the year
. You will be able to opt in or out of the Realm
online directory yourself.
Eventually, Realm may also replace Ministry Scheduler Pro.
The office is currently setting up ministry groups – so stay tuned.
Get the APP!
Realm is available from your APP store on your mobile device. Just search and choose
OnRealm
.
Please contact Lynne Thomas or Cass Bisbikis if you have any questions. Let’s get started!
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Faith@Home
Community Art Display Posters
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Community Art Display Open to All Ages!
Help us create a community art display at Faith Church!
Just imagine driving by Faith Church and instead of seeing this empty field, seeing beautiful, colorful, inspiring posters!
Children and youth have already received their posters to color. Adults who want to join in the fun can sign up.
We will be putting up the art display in July.
Please contact Monica at Monica@faithec.org for more information.
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Timeshare Seeking a New Home
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Pueblo Bonito Timeshare – Your Annual Vacation in Cabo
Would you like to vacation for a week each year in Cabo San Lucas? Faith church has a timeshare in the Pueblo Bonito complex where you can enjoy the sun and surf of Mexico. The unit is available to use one week each year. Several members of our congregation have stayed in the unit in the past as previously the week was auctioned off as a fund raiser for SSP. The vestry has decided to re-home the unit since it has not been used by Faith for several years. If you are interested in acquiring the timeshare and would like more information, please contact Cathy Daust by September 30, 2020.
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The SHARE Food Closet in Placerville will reopen on July 6th on a limited bases, M-W-F from 10-Noon. During the month of July, only non-perishable food will be distributed.
The best way to continue to support SHARE during this time is with a cash donation which you can make using our new Realm sytem. Just choose SHARE as your dsignated fund.
Ruth Pihlaja has coordinated the Faith Church SHARE ministry for many years and is "retiring." We are so grateful to Ruth for her committment to feed the hungry in our community. She has spent counless hours recruiting volunteers, taking your food cart donations to SHARE, improving processes and procedures and fundraising.
A big thank you to the volunteer teem that has supported SHARE: Donna Lemire, Jean Hart, Gayle Holt, Alexandra Koroscik, Jill Lasko, Cass Bibiskis, Barry Hopkins, Charlotte Kine,
Becky Leonard, Dick Fairty, Elinor Willcockson, Kathryn/Patrick McGuire, Linda Grieco
and Sharon Hogate. There are many more volunteers from past years too!
The current location of SHARE is not ideal for food distribution or parking and other locations are being explored. We will keep you posted on the changes at share and our Ministry team will monitor the situation to see how best we might support this important community resource.
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Resources and Other Information
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Online resources for people in recovery
Isolation is perilous for people in recovery. We learn that our sobriety depends upon keeping connected to sober people, being accountable to others, being of service to others.
The Rev. Anne McKeever, Diocesan Recovery Facilitator has compiled resources that are still available during the "shut-down".
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OFFICE HOURS
There are no established office hours during this time when the church is closed due to COVID-19 precautions. If you have any questions, please email the church at
faithec@faithec.org.
PRAYER REQUESTS
If you or someone you know is in need of prayer, please email prayer requests to
Faithec@faithec.org
.
PASTORAL SUPPORT
Pastor Liz Armstrong and Rev. Sonya are both available by email and phone to support you, but cannot make in-person visits at this time.
Liz Armstrong
(916) 201-3319
Sonya Reichel
CONTACT INFORMATION CHANGES
SHARE FOOD CLOSET
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