Dear Church Family and Friends,

If COVID has taught me anything, it’s to be flexible.  For the most part, I’ve always been a “roll with it” kind of gal … but throughout the pandemic, I’ve had to roll-with-it more than ever before.  This past Sunday was another roll-with-it kind of day.  Due to uncertain weather, our Worship Team had to come up with Plan B.  Thanks to the ongoing trend of declining COVID cases in our area along with a new filtration component having been added recently to our Fellowship Hall HVAC, we felt comfortable moving worship inside to our Fellowship Hall.  We set up chairs that were socially distanced for worshipers to sit in … everyone wore masks … and for the first time in quite some time hymns were played on an upright piano instead of a keyboard.  It was wonderful!  One of our Worship Team members said that this will go down as one of his all-time favorite and most memorable services because it reminded him of the early church.  The early Christians had to roll-with-it all too often as they worshiped wherever they safely could.  As we sat among the cans of garbanzo beans and the boxes of granola bars that are part of our weekly Avondale Feeding Ministry, we were reminded of the real and tangible presence of God that is in both our work and in our worship.  Thanks be to God for this reminder!!

Our ReOpen Team met Monday night to once again review the COVID numbers for our area and to discuss the future of our worship location for the month of May.  After discussion, the team voted unanimously to worship in the Fellowship Hall for the next few weeks.  Fortunately, our COVID numbers have continued to decline for well over fourteen days.  This weighed heavily into our decision along with a couple of other factors … (1) the renovation on our front lawn is set to begin this week (woohoo!) once things dry out from the rain and (2) the weather is uncertain once again this week for Sunday.  While we pride ourselves on being able to roll-with-it when the Holy Spirit calls us to, it’s also nice to be able to plan ahead when given the opportunity.  Our target date of moving into the sanctuary for worship is still set for June 6 as we work to get the HVAC equipped with appropriate COVID-filtration and to get our livestream capabilities up and running in that space.  Thank you for your continued support and patience throughout this season in the life of our church.

The health and safety of everyone who joins us in-person for worship is of the utmost importance.  Methodist founder John Wesley had three simple rules he required, and the number one rule was “Do no harm.”  Today we still seek to follow that rule as we show love and care for all in our community, and in doing so, we have some important things to note about worship in the Fellowship Hall:

• masks are required that cover your nose and mouth
• RSVPs are absolutely necessary to insure we don’t overcrowd the room … click here to RSVP for worship this Sunday.

I’m looking forward to being with you all again this Sunday whether you choose to worship in-person or via livestream.  It’s always so comforting and encouraging to be together with our community of faith.

Blessings,

Rev. Malinda Weaver

P.S.  Wondering what the other two rules of Wesley’s Three Simple Rules are?

1. Do no harm.
2. Do good.
3. Stay in love with God.