Dear Friends,
I am pleased to welcome you to the 1st edition of the "Hopeful Times," which will be published 2 to 3 times per week by the Community Church during the days of Covid-19. The "Hopeful Times" will replace the "Weird Times," the award winning newsletter (we named it "Wackiest Newsletter of the Year for 2020" in the medium-sized north shore non-denominational church category). 30 unique editions of the "Weird Times" were published in 23 days.
In explaining the rebranding, editor and publisher Tom Dickelman said "Cranking out a newsletter every day was not sustainable long term. Creating a couple per week is doable."
"Far more importantly, though," he added, "the first 3 weeks of Virus time were
really weird
. That's how everything felt - weird. And we needed to laugh at it. That's what we do with things we don't understand, or that make us uncomfortable. We joke. We need to laugh. While we still need to smile and laugh, I think the general vibe has changed from "this is weird" to "let's get through this ASAP -
together
.'"
* * * * *
He continued, "It doesn't mean that there won't be a lighter approach to our communications. I mean, why else would we put Bob Hope's picture in the masthead?" (for those under 35 - he was a comedian).
* * * * *
The focus of upcoming "Hopeful Times" will be
to communicate important information to readers in a lively manner about staying physically, mentally, and spiritually healthy.
For example, our next newsletter will feature a menu of the various ZOOM opportunities our church will provide (live, interactive gatherings in which you can participate), including a noon, "Joys & Concerns" offered Monday - Friday. More on that in the next few days.
"We're hoping that this makes sense to everyone. (Get it, 'hoping'? You're gonna get sick of 'hope' puns) Our newsletters are still going to be lively - just not quite as goofy and more importantly, focused on our getting through this together as a community."e
