 Dear family of Immanuel,
The Lord is at hand; 6 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:5b-7). God’s grace be with you in the name of Jesus. The Lord is at hand. And he brings a peace that nothing this world can bring. The Lord guard and keep your hearts this day and always. We had a council meeting on conference call on Friday night in order to discuss some important matters going forward. As you know, Gov. Pritzker has now issued a “Shelter in Place” for the State of Illinois. District President Buss has been keeping us up to date on how the district responds to the latest order. You can see information here: https://nidlcms.org/coronavirus/. This recent order does mean that we will are not permitted to meet together until Holy Week and Easter at the very earliest. However, just as planned by other congregations in the likely event that the order is extended, our first in-person service back will be a no-holds-barred, pull-all-the-stops Easter celebration! Until then, Please be safe and follow all the guidelines for the sake of our neighbors. But through it all be at peace. The Lord is with us through this whole thing and we are together as His Body. Expect a call from your assigned elder soon. Also, expect one from me within the next week, if I have not already spoken to you this week. Food Bank and Cleaning: As Food Banks are considered essential service, our congregation has continued to operate under a revised form to insure the safety of both workers and recipients by delivery of pre-packaged food supplies at their car. Ken is following all of the directions that are being supplied by our food bank provider. He has informed me that 11 families were served this morning and that it ran very smoothly. Thank you to all of the volunteers! In addition, others have been busy cleaning all the surfaces of the sanctuary. Thank you! E-giving: It was decided that we will go forward with e-giving. The goal is to have this set up sometime next week. This will make regular offerings easy to set up directly from your bank account or even a credit card. This will be a great opportunity to help support the Church even through this time. We will have links directly from our Church website. Look for more information to come soon. Until then, you may send your offering to the church. Sundays: Our Lord is still at hand. Thanks be to God that we can still be near to one another through in this modern day. Here again are your opportunities to stay connected in Worship and Bible Study: Worship: A video for worship will be uploaded by the 9am regular time for worship on Sunday morning and one for the midweek Lenten Service by 7pm on Wednesdays. Everything that you need for the services will be right there in the video. We even have the text of public domain hymns with audio recordings of Nicholas playing! Thank you, Nicholas! I encourage you to gather the whole family to see the videos. Church Website: http://immanuel-lindenwood.org/news/category/sermon Facebook Page (please hit “like” if you have not done so already): https://www.facebook.com/ImmanuelLindenwood/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZmNLU0KnbHU14jqzFIRRKg If you have a Smart TV with a YouTube app, you can view them on a larger screen for the whole family. Bible Study: We will have Bible Study at the regular Sunday morning time at 10:30am. We will be using the video and audio conferencing app called Zoom. You will receive an email with links and a code when I start the Bible Study. For the fullest experience with video, you can download the app on your computer or smartphone. It is FREE for you. You only need to create a log-in ID. You do not need to use your own the video or even audio to listen in. But you’ll get to see me! Zoom can be found here: https://zoom.us. or in the App Store for your smartphone. However, you do not need a computer in order to be a part of the Bible Study. You can call-in from any phone. If you prefer a text message with the number and code from me, please respond to me in this email with your number just so I know that I have the right one. So get your treats and coffee and let’s have a great Bible Study! Christ is with us. We are family. God Bless you and keep you in Jesus! Christ’s Peace be with you, Pastor |
