WELCOMING CELEBRATORY INSPIRING ADVENTUROUS IN MISSION

Dear church family,

I would like to thank you for continuing to find ways to connect with one another. I continue to hear words of appreciation from those who have received phone calls or mail from their church family. It is good to be reminded that we are part of a church community especially with being apart for 5 months and counting.

Our church family has lost a long time member: Mary Burrows died Aug. 3. Her immediate family has had a small memorial service. Please keep Mary’s family and friends in your prayers. This is a loss for her family and our church family, but it is also a loss across our national church because of Mary’s time as the seminary librarian. Many of our pastors came to know and love Mary during their time at seminary. You can read Mary’s obituary at https://thestarphoenix.remembering.ca/obituary/mary-burrows-1079656782

You will notice that I have placed our 5-part “Augustana is” statement at the top of this note. This 5-part statement is up on the wall at church and it appears on many of our documents. It is good for us to reflect on what those words mean to us 5 months into a pandemic.

At the beginning of summer I asked you to reflect on what it means to be WELCOMING during covid 19. And part of that is doing what we can to care for each other. Another part of that is to care for those outside our own bubble. One opportunity to do this comes through CLWR (Canadian Lutheran World Relief) and PWRDF (Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund). The explosion in Lebanon and the resulting unrest and homelessness are being addressed through both organizations and funds raised will be matched by the Canadian government. This need is significant to our congregation because the refugee family we are sponsoring, the Alhamad-Wahid family, is living in Lebanon.

Thanks to the members of the “Holy Rollers and Tearers” who have been carrying on with the work of that group at home. They are still able to provide soap and shampoo where needed.

The next word to explore is ADVENTUROUS. Here are some opportunities to be adventurous:

coffee after church on Sunday 11:15 am – meeting by zoom. Invitation at the bottom of this update. (instructions on how to zoom are attached)
Holy Communion by Zoom – the afternoon of September 20th
It has been a blessing to have singers leading us during on-line worship. I hear that it is also a blessing for those who are doing the singing. Would you like to blessed in this way? Please contact Deborah Buck if you want to join this musical adventure that is also good for the soul.

The worship committee, health cabinet and others met this past week to explore returning to worship in person. It was decided that we would postpone returning to worship in person until October. We thought it prudent to let the school year settle in first. September often sees an increase in virus transmission during normal times and this year is an unknown.

The new plan is:

in-person worship on the 1st Sunday of every month beginning Oct. 4th,
zoom communion the 3rd Sunday of every month beginning Sept. 20th
on-line services every week.
Private family/”people in your bubble” baptisms (please set up the time with Pastor Marilyn) and
Holy communion at the church with the people in your bubble (again, set up the time with Pastor Marilyn)

This has been a long update, thank you for your persistence to the end J

God bless and keep you all well.

Pastor Marilyn

Link to this week’s worship (or follow the link on our website): https://youtu.be/o62hnnBkgPQ

Join Zoom Meeting (coffee time after church)

Click on this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85895823130

Meeting ID: 858 9582 3130

YOU CAN ALSO JOIN IN BY PHONE:

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Meeting ID: 858 9582 3130