A Message from Ellen
Dear Friends,
The new normal is . . . whatever I did thirty minutes ago.
I know that we are all in this together, but upside down on a roller coaster is still tough. Yes? The church is still here and we want to respond when you need us. Our church staff has worked very hard in the last two weeks to figure out how to support and to strengthen our community of faith. And you have been phenomenal at reaching out to each other. Did you know that several women in our congregation made several hundred face masks for the Presbyterian Communities, and that your Deacons are trying to contact all of our members who live alone and/or have health conditions? And I hope that you have read your church emails and seen all of the options for connecting with our church community. The youth have been teaching the children the dances/energizers that they learned at the Montreat Youth Conferences through an online video platform, and the staff have been recording videos of children’s books that our children can click on and watch at home anytime.
This Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week. Palm Sunday remembers the day when Jesus entered Jerusalem with people waving palm branches, laying their coats on the road in front of him and shouting “Hosannah!” You are invited to worship again this Sunday with me remotely, as we have for the last two Sundays. The Bulletin (with imbedded links to videos) will be emailed to you, and be a link in our website (see the top banner – www.flpc.org – or visit the “News and Events” page). The installation of the equipment for livestreaming is in progress, but is not complete as I write this letter. Look at the invitation in this newsletter to add your visible prayers to the “Prayer Tree” in the front lawn of our church. That invitation stands, for you to go and tie a ribbon on the tree, unless the authorities say otherwise. Plans for Easter worship are still under consideration, but we will worship and Jesus will be resurrected in our hearts and in our lives, whether we are worshiping together, online or in our own homes! The Declaration of Faith says: “We maintain that ultimate sovereignty now belongs to Jesus Christ in every sphere of life. Jesus is Lord! He has been Lord from the beginning. He will be Lord at the end. Even now he is Lord.”
I am proud to hear of how many wonderful things you are already doing to express the love and compassion of Christ to those around you. No one ever said that walking in the way of Jesus was going to be easy. This is our chance to practice what we say we believe. We do not know what the future holds. But we know who holds the future.
Peace!
