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.  
Thank You For Your Generosity

Many thanks to all who continue to give generously, and a hearty thank you to our finance team who have set up the electronic giving plate and to our parking lot attendants who offer our outdoor offering plate. Because of all of you, we have nearly caught up to what we received by this time last year.
And, the amount we have received for Outreach is four times more this year than last. Because of your financial support, we continue to impact the lives of people both within and outside the church. Thank you very much for your offerings and contributions.
Safer-at-Home

Out of an abundance of caution, the office at All Angels will be closed in April. Fr. Dave is working from home and live streaming the services from All Angels. In addition, the office phone has been forwarded to his cell phone. If you need to get a hold of him, either call him on his cell, 941-704-2131, or simply call the office, 941-383-8161; both ways will reach him. 
The office staff and leadership of All Angels worked diligently through the month of March in case this had to happen. We will still be able to process your offerings to the church, pay our vendors, and remain in communication with you. Thank you for all that you do to support the ministry of All Angels.
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.
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

Many thanks to the Flower Guild and Altar Guild for transitioning the church into Easter and for the wonderful flower displays that bring joy and comfort to those who are participating in our worship services from home. 
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
Grant healing, hope, and faith to all who are afflicted pain or sorrow. Especially we lift before you the needs of: Downs IV, Holden, Ruth, Timothy, Lynne, Don, Bill, Dorothy Jo, Valerie, Sue, Elizabeth, Kay, Vicki, Jim, Barbara, Ward, Krista, John, Cynthia, Alex, Linda, Alan, Andres, Jonathan, Ginny, Mary Ann, Carling, Victoria, Sophia, Andrew and Carolyne.
Give gentle hands and patient hearts to those who care for and them;
and restore them to fellowship with all who love them.

We ask for your protection and health for all health care workers, food service workers, first responders and other essential personnel.
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 19
Reflection
Patient/Endurance

I had a very interesting Revelation Bible study class I’d like to share with you. The last book in the Bible seeks to answer four questions: Why do the righteous suffer? Why are the wicked not punished? What is the meaning of suffering? Where is God’s justice?
Our current pandemic has led many of the faithful to ask similar questions.

In Class 2, we read the following verse, “I, John, your brother who shares with you in the hardship, kingdom, and endurance that we have in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and my witness about Jesus.” (1:9)
The approach I took on this passage was to show who the author is and where he is writing from. Several people on the Zoom study stopped me and said their Bible translation read, “I, John, your brother in the suffering and patient endurance…” Their question was why did my translation leave out “patient” when describing endurance. I was baffled. I quickly pulled up different English translations and found some had “patient” and others didn’t. I then shared my screen with them that had the Greek version (the original language) and the English equivalent underneath so we could read it together. Nowhere in the original did it show “patience”. Nevertheless, I did some research into this; here is what I found.

At issue, is the word ὑπομονή (hupomonḗ) which is translated “endurance” in the Common English Bible. It means to persevere, remain under; a bearing up under, patience, endurance as to things or circumstances. A HupomonḗHi is associated with hope and refers to that quality of character which does not allow one to surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial. Generally meaning endurance, patience, perseverance or constancy under suffering in faith and duty. In the context of Rev 1:9, it means by the quality to which one perseveres.

The big question is how to translate that into English. Can one patiently endure? I am in the presence of some folks at All Angels who are patiently enduring with a health condition of themselves or of their partner/spouse. They know there is nothing they can do about their condition. Daily, they choose to persevere instead of falling prey to negativity, anger, and bitterness. Now, they’d be the first to tell you that there are days… but, for the most part, they are enduring, patiently. A friend wrote to me about the Bible study and said that patiently enduring requires consent on the one who is being put to the test. John, therefore, is writing to those who consent to call Jesus Lord and, as such, they are consenting to endure with him, patiently.

One last thing – the Greeks of the 1 st century, like today, are into endurance sports like long distance running, wrestling, and swimming. It should be no surprise they are credited with creating the Olympic Games. Endurance activities are individual sports that, if done to a high quality, can lift a nation. Each one of those sports requires patience as well as endurance. What John is describing, in his Revelation is that no matter what we are facing, God is patiently enduring with us. Whether one is trapped on the exile island of Patmos, or physical distancing at home, God is with us. And, through hope that there will be an end to suffering, God is helping us to endure, which, could lift a nation. 

-Fr. Dave