Pastor’s Ponderings
This is a very unusual edition of Shepherd’s Staff. There is no calendar of events; and there are no articles about worship services, mission causes, or fellowship events. By now, you know that the church will be closed through the month of April. There will be no worship services, no Minutes for Mission, and no team meetings. It’s all because of a virus that, although it is too small to be seen by even a light microscope, we are being forced to take very seriously. We will not see one another for another month. This decision was made at the suggestion of our Heartland Conference of the United Church of Christ, who wants us to help flatten the curve of new cases of coronavirus. I am bowing to their wisdom. So, how am I planning to handle this? This issue of Pastor’s Ponderings is devoted to telling you exactly that. I am on a steep learning curve as I learn how to do “distance ministry” with all of you. I ask for your continuing prayers.
Communication
I will continue to use the OneCall service to connect with you each morning through my “Thought of the Day.” Some of you have told me that you let that call go to your answering machine so that you can play it over and over again during the day. I am glad that it is helpful to you! You will receive a OneCall every single day of the week.
While we are in physical isolation, Janice and I are concerned about your spiritual as well as your physical well-being. We are trying to personally contact each one of you by phone (unless you have indicated that you don’t want a call), but that will be a long process. If we don’t contact you right away, we haven’t forgotten you. We are praying for you every single day! As I say in my daily thoughts, don’t hesitate to call one of us if you have any needs. We are happy to listen to your concerns and pray with you over the phone. That’s what we’re here for!
Worship
Worship will take place each Sunday morning as a live feed on the Nashville UCC Facebook page. I plan to begin the feed at 10:15 a.m. every Sunday to allow some time for virtual social interaction, and stay live for 15 more minutes following worship. People who join the Facebook feed while it is live will be able to type in comments to one another. It’s not as good as gathering in our sanctuary, but it’s better than nothing. The recording of the worship service will then be posted on Facebook for you to view at any time. If you are not currently a Facebook user, just go to Facebook.com and create an account. You don’t need to post a single thing on it; but it will enable you to join the live Sunday morning experience and access the recordings that I will post there from time to time. Call Sandy or me if you need help doing that.
In addition, every Wednesday, I will post a recorded service of evening prayer on the church Facebook page to assist you with your “Prayer on the 8s.” The format will be the same, but the prayers and scripture readings will be different every week. You can access it at any time.
And what about Holy Week? I plan to live-stream services of worship on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Easter Sunday. They will all be streamed from my home office, so it won’t be anything like being at church together; but I hope that it will help you capture the mood of the day, nevertheless. The Palm Sunday and Easter services will begin at 10:30 a.m. (after the 15-minute social time), and the Maundy Thursday service will begin a little before 7:00 p.m. On Maundy Thursday, I ask you to prepare by getting two things before worship begins: a chunk of bread or a cracker; and a small glass of something to drink. It doesn’t need to be grape juice. In fact, I suggest that you use whatever you usually drink to accompany a meal in your home (milk, apple juice, water – even wine). Jesus and his disciples ate a common food and drank their typical beverage on that first Communion night; and I invite you to use ordinary food and drink as well. There will be a time to eat it together during the service of worship.
So… we aren’t gathering for Easter this year? On the contrary, on the first Sunday that we are able to gather for worship, we will celebrate Easter all together! I hope that by then, we can embrace one another with the love that we feel for each other but can’t show right now. We will sing together joyfully and shout thunderous Alleluias! We’ll get there, friends; all in God’s time!
Church financial health
As we can’t live without food and drink, the church can’t live without money. We are fortunate that we have a fairly generous financial cushion in investments; but that will quickly dry up without additional income. Please make sure that we get your regular offering despite the fact that we are not gathering for weekly worship!
There are two ways to do that right now.
I will continue to keep you updated on church business through daily OneCalls. On some days, I will need to send multiple OneCalls, since I am limited to 2 minutes per call. Pastor Janice will be keeping you informed of special prayer concerns.
Especially at this difficult time, Pastor Janice and I are honored to be your pastors. We’ll get through this difficult time together, with God’s help. Keep the faith, and hang on to hope! God is with us in all things.
In Christ,
Pastor Lynn
This is a very unusual edition of Shepherd’s Staff. There is no calendar of events; and there are no articles about worship services, mission causes, or fellowship events. By now, you know that the church will be closed through the month of April. There will be no worship services, no Minutes for Mission, and no team meetings. It’s all because of a virus that, although it is too small to be seen by even a light microscope, we are being forced to take very seriously. We will not see one another for another month. This decision was made at the suggestion of our Heartland Conference of the United Church of Christ, who wants us to help flatten the curve of new cases of coronavirus. I am bowing to their wisdom. So, how am I planning to handle this? This issue of Pastor’s Ponderings is devoted to telling you exactly that. I am on a steep learning curve as I learn how to do “distance ministry” with all of you. I ask for your continuing prayers.
Communication
I will continue to use the OneCall service to connect with you each morning through my “Thought of the Day.” Some of you have told me that you let that call go to your answering machine so that you can play it over and over again during the day. I am glad that it is helpful to you! You will receive a OneCall every single day of the week.
While we are in physical isolation, Janice and I are concerned about your spiritual as well as your physical well-being. We are trying to personally contact each one of you by phone (unless you have indicated that you don’t want a call), but that will be a long process. If we don’t contact you right away, we haven’t forgotten you. We are praying for you every single day! As I say in my daily thoughts, don’t hesitate to call one of us if you have any needs. We are happy to listen to your concerns and pray with you over the phone. That’s what we’re here for!
Worship
Worship will take place each Sunday morning as a live feed on the Nashville UCC Facebook page. I plan to begin the feed at 10:15 a.m. every Sunday to allow some time for virtual social interaction, and stay live for 15 more minutes following worship. People who join the Facebook feed while it is live will be able to type in comments to one another. It’s not as good as gathering in our sanctuary, but it’s better than nothing. The recording of the worship service will then be posted on Facebook for you to view at any time. If you are not currently a Facebook user, just go to Facebook.com and create an account. You don’t need to post a single thing on it; but it will enable you to join the live Sunday morning experience and access the recordings that I will post there from time to time. Call Sandy or me if you need help doing that.
In addition, every Wednesday, I will post a recorded service of evening prayer on the church Facebook page to assist you with your “Prayer on the 8s.” The format will be the same, but the prayers and scripture readings will be different every week. You can access it at any time.
And what about Holy Week? I plan to live-stream services of worship on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Easter Sunday. They will all be streamed from my home office, so it won’t be anything like being at church together; but I hope that it will help you capture the mood of the day, nevertheless. The Palm Sunday and Easter services will begin at 10:30 a.m. (after the 15-minute social time), and the Maundy Thursday service will begin a little before 7:00 p.m. On Maundy Thursday, I ask you to prepare by getting two things before worship begins: a chunk of bread or a cracker; and a small glass of something to drink. It doesn’t need to be grape juice. In fact, I suggest that you use whatever you usually drink to accompany a meal in your home (milk, apple juice, water – even wine). Jesus and his disciples ate a common food and drank their typical beverage on that first Communion night; and I invite you to use ordinary food and drink as well. There will be a time to eat it together during the service of worship.
So… we aren’t gathering for Easter this year? On the contrary, on the first Sunday that we are able to gather for worship, we will celebrate Easter all together! I hope that by then, we can embrace one another with the love that we feel for each other but can’t show right now. We will sing together joyfully and shout thunderous Alleluias! We’ll get there, friends; all in God’s time!
Church financial health
As we can’t live without food and drink, the church can’t live without money. We are fortunate that we have a fairly generous financial cushion in investments; but that will quickly dry up without additional income. Please make sure that we get your regular offering despite the fact that we are not gathering for weekly worship!
There are two ways to do that right now.
- Write out a check and mail it to the church address.
- Arrange for your bank to send a your offering directly to the church. You can do this be going to the area of your online banking and adding Nashville United Church of Christ as a payee. It will ask you for the address, which is 4540 W. State Rte. 571, West Milton, Ohio, 45383. You will not need an account number. In most cases, you can arrange for regular payment (weekly or monthly as you choose) so that the money comes right out of your account and is sent to the church without any additional effort on your part.
- We are in the process of adding a PayPal account to the church website. When that process is complete, you can simply go to the church website, click the “Donate” button, and PayPal will guide you through the steps necessary to send your donation electronically.
I will continue to keep you updated on church business through daily OneCalls. On some days, I will need to send multiple OneCalls, since I am limited to 2 minutes per call. Pastor Janice will be keeping you informed of special prayer concerns.
Especially at this difficult time, Pastor Janice and I are honored to be your pastors. We’ll get through this difficult time together, with God’s help. Keep the faith, and hang on to hope! God is with us in all things.
In Christ,
Pastor Lynn
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