May 28, 2020

 

Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

 

This Sunday, we reach another milestone - it is Pentecost Sunday, 50 days since Easter. In some ways it feels like Easter was a couple of weeks ago, and in some ways, it feels like it was a year ago. This is the day we encourage you to wear red to church in celebration of Pentecost, and we pastors love to look out into the church and see a sea of red! As you are at home, worshiping, I encourage you to wear something red: a red t-shirt, red socks, pajamas or slippers as you celebrate the "birthday" of the church. Post or send us your pictures!

Imagine the early disciples, locked away in a room, not knowing what to do except to pray, day after day. We can relate to that better now than ever before! God promised them that something big was coming. Jesus in John 14 promised them a "paraclete," an advocate, a comforter, the Spirit of Truth. What came was truly more than they could ask or imagine. Not only they but thousands of others were changed forever that day. The church exploded with revival and nothing has ever been the same since! Even as we are locked away in our homes, may we continue to pray for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit's power on us, on our community, and on our world. May the Spirit flood our land with the Living Water to quench our dry and thirsty land!

We are all longing for the Lord to come, to intervene, to rescue us from these locked doors, to heal our land. James, too, knew this struggle. Long before we ever knew how badly we would need this, James wrote,

We still do not have an exact date to reopen for worship yet, but we are getting closer. We appreciated the President's statement that churches are essential - I fully agree! Thankfully, here in Pennsylvania, we have been classified as essential or "life-sustaining" since the beginning of the crisis. That has given us some freedom during the strict stay-at-home order to be able to have a food drive and to record our worship services from the church. 

Early on, Governor Wolf asked houses of worship to limit their gatherings. He did not mandate it, but he asked us to consider the health of our members and community as we made our plans. Our session at MLEPC has taken this charge very seriously, and we are continuing to pray about what that should look like. Our Usher/Greeter Safety Ministry has been working diligently to make sure we have everything in place before we decide on a date to reopen. We probably will not reopen as soon as Allegheny County goes into the Green phase-we may wait a couple of weeks to make sure there is not an additional spike in cases. Our decision will also be informed by the CDC and PA recommendations on gathering size.

Whenever we do open for worship, we will be requiring masks in the building. We will have cloth and disposable masks available if you do not have one. We are adapting our plans for worship and stepping up our cleaning protocols to keep everyone as safe as possible.

We will continue to offer worship online through Facebook and YouTube indefinitely, and we especially encourage those of you in vulnerable categories to worship from home for as long as you need to.

I will update you every week as we draw closer to reopening to keep you posted on our plans. We cannot wait to see your smiling faces in worship again!!

Small Groups: 

Are you plugged into a small group? We have groups meeting almost every day of the week, and we have groups for Tweeners, Middle School and High School, Young Adults, just women, just men, and coed groups. We would love to get you connected! And the Lamplighters Sunday School class just started meeting again as well. If you are interested in becoming part of one of these groups, please contact us at 412-531-3387 or info@mlepc.org.

Hour of Prayer (formerly known as Sundays at Seven):
A group of us are gathering on Zoom every Sunday at 7pm to pray together, and we would love to have you join us! Here is the Zoom link for a computer, tablet, or mobile phone:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/92561964416. You can also call in from a regular phone - dial 1-646-558-8656 and enter the Meeting ID - 925 6196 4416. For more info, contact Pat Gaudio at t4two98@hotmail.com. 

Again, please let us know if there is any way we can support you or connect with you during this season. We need to be here for each other now more than ever. The email,   info@mlepc.org, has been set up so you can send us any needs, prayer requests, or just updates on how you are doing. And you are always welcome to call us at 412-531-3387.

Many blessings,
Pastor Carolyn