• Take a photo of you and/or a loved one holding a palm branch or piece of greenery/branch.
• Send us your pictures with the subject line "Palm Pics." 
• Share your photo on social media (optional) and tag Covenant. You can use the hashtag #PalmSunwithCovenant. 
• Your images will appear on the Palm Sunday worship broadcast as part of a virtual palm processional. 

Another record audience joined us Sunday for online worship. Be with us again for Scripture, prayer and special music. Share photos with the hashtag #covenantpresby.

• You can access the livestream here.
• Join us through Facebook Live. 

• Hourly Employee Relief Fund: Covenant has 50+ hourly employees (including child care, food service workers and musicians) who are facing potential under-employment in the coming weeks due to canceled meals, rehearsals, etc. A fund for employee support will allow the church to be as generous as possible. You can donate here. (Choose Employee Relief on drop-down menu).
   
• Covenant Members Fund: Many in our congregation are also facing financial vulnerability due to reduced work hours and eliminated positions. We would like to support them through our Congregational Care Ministry. You can donate here. (Choose Member Support on drop-down menu).
   
• You may also mail checks with a notation in the memo line for the appropriate fund.
   
• Crisis Assistance Ministry: Even after the COVID-19 pandemic has eased, the economic crisis will be long-lasting. A challenge grant will double our impact in helping Charlotte neighbors to overcome financial hardship.

• Wish list and tutors for QC Family Tree - Our friends in West Charlotte have created an Amazon wish list of urgent needs. They also are seeking people to serve as online tutors for youth who are out of school. Click here for an interest form.
   
• Loaves and Fishes - Volunteer spots are full, but the agency is working together with Second Harvest, which still needs volunteers.

• Meals for displaced students: Covenant is hosting two Queens University students on our campus. These young people had nowhere else to go. You can sign up to deliver a meal.
   
• Urban Ministry Center/Men's Shelter of Charlotte: Through two shelters and a day services center, the organization serves 600 people experiencing homelessness, often in crowded situations. See a list of urgent needs.

A group of eight volunteers led by Todd Capitano is offering to deliver groceries and essential items for elderly people who are confined at home. Click here to contact Todd.

In this time of isolation, there is benefit in seeing how we can build relationships in new ways. We have devised an avenue to connect with one another and share some of our experiences. You will be paired with someone to exchange emails or letters. When we are able to gather in person, we will host a celebration. You can learn more and sign up here.

Covenant is pleased to announce that a search committee has chosen Kimberley Lee as our Director of Children's Ministries. Kim, who will begin May 4, comes to us from Selwyn Avenue Presbyterian Church, where she served as Director of Children's and Family Ministry for the past six years.

A lifelong educator, Kim began her career as a Lead Weekday School Teacher at South Mecklenburg Presbyterian Church before becoming the church's Director of Spiritual Formation. In that role, Kim designed children's worship programs, parenting workshops and curricula for Sunday School classes, book studies, lectures and events.

At Selwyn, Kim worked closely with the church's full-day Child Development Center to introduce programs such as weekly Chapel time for children. She also created and nurtured activities to connect CDC staff and families to the life of the church.

Kim earned a Master of Arts in Christian Education from Union Presbyterian Seminary in 2011.

Kim grew up attending Covenant with her family and has many fond memories of her time in the church. She and her husband, Rick, have an adult son, Cameron, and two beloved golden retrievers, Norton and Tilly. Kim will report to Grace Lindvall, associate pastor of education.

Please join us in thanking the search committee members: Carla Haughton, Chair; and Doug Bacon, Whitney Bouknight, Katie Davis and Donna McNairy for their work. 

Thank you, Claire! We would also like to express our gratitude to Claire Brown for her outstanding service as interim. Claire has chosen to focus on volunteer and family commitments and will remain on board to help Kim get acclimated. Since we cannot yet celebrate Claire in person, we invite you to send thank-you messages for use in a tribute gift for Claire.

Fred Craddock was a great storyteller and preacher who described what it meant to "go marveling." He walked into the woods, down to the creek bank and into the water to find things over which to marvel and share with others. It's a lost art in today's hyper-connected world, but to go "marveling" is also a valuable way to read the Bible. We'll explore the idea together.

• Click here to join tonight's Bible Study.

There's only so much Netflix you can take, right? A church-wide virtual book club is reading Haruki Murakami's best-selling novel Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki. This isn't a religious book. But it does deal with forgiveness, grace and the balance between self-care and selflessness.

Weekly, you will receive a short faith-based reflection to help you to situate the book within the life of faith.  Click here to join the discussion.

We might not be able to dine together, but we can still share a meal and support our community. Snap a picture of you and your favorite takeout meal and tag both us (@covenantya) and the small business on Instagram. This way, we can all enjoy one another's experience.

• Click here to join us via Zoom on Tuesdays at noon.