Dear Friends and Members of Ark and Dove,

This Sunday is the last Sunday in Easter, and we will for the first time in over a year have two worship services.  This is great news!! I look forward to seeing a bunch of you out in the yard.

9:15 am, Outdoor Worship, sign up here and bring your own chair.

10:30 am, Livestream – NOTE THE NEW TIME!

Speaking of the church yard, our Facilities Ministry is looking for help to get it all spruced up. Can you come over tomorrow (Saturday) to help for an hour? See article below.

The CDC issued new guidance on outdoor gatherings this week, and the Session will be discussing this at its regular meeting this coming Wednesday. There are government rules. There is government guidance. There are scientific facts.  There is also the fact that we are a worshiping community. One of the considerations we have been weighing as a church community and at Session meetings is the importance of children to Ark and Dove. Another consideration is the level of anxiety there is in some families and members about COVID.  Not everyone at Ark and Dove is ready to jump into a mask-less world just yet, and not everyone is fully vaccinated, particularly children.  Keeping that in mind, we are asking and encouraging you to wear a mask this Sunday at Outdoor Worship. This is a liminal, hybrid, between-time of church life, and although the science says we are mostly physically safe to go mask-less outside, let’s pray about this from a spiritual and psychological vantage point.  Let’s care for each other’s souls and let’s give the Session some time to weigh this all out in the weeks to come. Let’s give people a chance to emotionally process this new guidance. And let’s give younger people a chance to go get fully vaccinated. 

Jesus urged his disciples in his last days to love one another. He was talking to them and to us.

Peace of Christ,

tstern@arkanddove.org

Dear Friends and Members of Ark and Dove,

This Sunday we celebrate the Ascension of Jesus Christ at 9:15 am outdoors and 10:30 livestream. In celebrating Ascension, the Church remembers that after 40 days the risen Christ ascended to heaven. More so, the Church affirms, upon Ascension, that Jesus Christ ascended to a heavenly throne from where he rules as King of creation. This may sound mythic and maybe even medieval to you, and I get that. We don't think in terms of a tiered universe with heaven above the clouds. And we don't have a realistic view of kingship anymore.

This does not mean that Ascension Sunday is meaningless to us in modernity. Ascension is an opportunity to recognize who governs and guides us. Has Jesus Christ ascended over all the other things that rule our lives? Who do we really obey? Do we follow the commands of Christ over all others? To what extent do the demands of life outrank Jesus Christ and his commands? On Ascension Day, the Church recognizes the governance of Jesus over congregations and congregants. Will we accept his guidance?

I know I need it. I need his guidance through all the changes in this late stage of the pandemic. How will his love commandment dictate the way I must live? In the worst stages of the pandemic, loving my neighbor meant wearing my mask, social distancing, and then getting vaccinated, but what does it mean now that restrictions are easing and still so many can't or won't get vaccinated? How does Jesus the Palestinian Jew guide my response to Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip? Where is Jesus leading me and to whom?

Jesus Christ is risen and ascended. Let us accept his guidance and governance, that we might be better citizens of the world.

Peace,

jnelson@arkanddove.org

PRAYERS OF HEALING AND SUPPORT for Owen Roman; Ardeth and Bob Johns; Steven Kirby; Arlyce Lohr; Patty Plander; Krista Klohr; Christa Kronser; Dick Paronto; Richard and Edie Budd; Vaughn Brown; Pat Sise’s uncle, Jeff Sise; Camille Dubois’ parents; Debbie Saylor’s sister, Christine; Ryan Stavely’s father, Brian; Brooks Emrick and her sister, Susan; Amanda Crose’s grandmother, Betty Davis; Dotty Kaufman, her son, Bill, daughter-in-law, Carol, granddaughter, Sarah, and grandson Nathan; Michelle Schoonmaker, and her friend, Stacey Demps-Barret; Steve Debus' cousin-in-law, Stephan; Kathy Miller’s brother-in-law, Jeff Miller; Lewis Shorter and Lewis Shorter’s niece, Jennifer Schwandt-Gayle; Bob Fuller’s brother, Joe Fuller; Dot Forloines’ family, granddaughter Melisa Tucker Saatthoff and her great-grandson Luke; Donna Anderson's brother-in-law, Tom Brown; Debbie and Bruce Arey’s family in Connecticut and daughter, Allison, and niece, Naomi; Linda Taylor’s mother, Izola; Julia Kirby's mother, Margaret Floyd; Kennon Bauman’s uncle, Dan Johnston; Amy Goldberg’s grandmother, Ruth Cooper; Christy Yeager’s mother, Linda Jordan; Linda Jordan’s niece, Bonnie; Diane Johnson's Uncle Ed, Aunt Janet, and cousin Richard; Shelley Franklin's father; Hollis Butterworth’s daughter, Rachel Mershont; Amanda Wehage’s sister and father, Dave; Laurie Barrow’s nephew, Gunther Kurtz; Sabonna Keeney’s mother; Bernabe and Griselda Solano, and Griselda's sister, Irma; Laura Doughty’s brother-in-law, Carl Hahn, and Paul Doughty’s mother, Ruth Doughty; Laura Willoughby's father, Norman; Bill Ruble’s mother, Mary Jane Weathers; Ann Hirschy’s aunt, Cindy, and brother; Christina Nelson’s grandmother, Pat Dole; Kelly Burnett’s nephew, Justin; Patriceo Green’s cousin, Philip Brown; Lou Kareha’s aunt, Judy Kochis, and cousin, Thomas; Cheryl and Doug Walcutt’s grandchild, Gray Adacutt; Cheryl Walcutt’s mother, nephew, and sisters; Erika Sealing's grandmother, Margaret Schade; Lourdes Cordero's granddaughter; Linnie Girdner and Jan Hof’s friend, Grace Ligon; Paula Griggs’ friends Char and Jackie Pullen; and Kim Young’s friend, Kurt Kost.

PRAYERS OF HEALING for those with COVID-19 including: Kelly Burnett’s sister Colleen and cousin, Laurie; Dot Forloines’ granddaughter, Abigail; Julia Kirby’s great niece, nephew, his wife, and friends, and the Coffey family; and Jennifer Roman's aunt, Laura Clay, and grandmother, Louise Nothdurft.

PRAYERS OF LOVE, SUPPORT AND PROTECTION for all essential workers around the world, including: Mike Stiegler; Bill Gaurin; Tricia Gray’s mother, Sabrina Johnson; Becca Distad; Jack Burnett; Caitlyn Bussey; Emily Sanders; Audrey Miller; Linda Jordan’s nephew, Russell; the Ralston’s family members and friends; Simone Stiegler’s friend, Jean Marie; Amy Grimm’s mother; Jeff Grimm; Amy Goldberg’s brother, Joseph Alexander, and parents, Michael and Maryann Cooper; Judy Cooper’s daughter; John Mikeska’s son, Jonathan; and Hollis Butterworth’s sister-in-law, Cyndie.