Happy Friday St. Peter's!
We hope that this email finds you well in the midst of all that is going on in the world! We may all be quarantined but the life, love, and joy of Jesus Christ continues through the church, through our community, and in our homes and with that in mind let’s get right to it…
1. Online Worship: We will be streaming our worship online once again on Facebook Live at 10am this Sunday and then placing a link to the service recording on the church website later in the day – we hope that you’ll join us for this new way to worship! We are not trying to advertise for Facebook but have found this is the easiest way for us to reach a large group of people for worship on Sunday mornings – if you are not on Facebook and need some help creating an account, if you’re having trouble finding the live stream, or have any other problems please don’t hesitate to contact me and I’ll be happy to help. The worship bulletin for Sunday can also be viewed by clicking RIGHT HERE and is also attached to the end of this email. Finally, if you have friends who are not “online” much please reach out to them and offer help so that they can join our worship services and don’t forget to invite all your friends!
2. Need help viewing our live events? Are you having trouble viewing our worship services in real time on FaceBook Live or having trouble joining our Facebook Live chats? Never fear, thanks to Chrissy Waldron we have a handy tutorial here to help you easily access both our live events and, if you need, get on Facebook. Thanks Chrissy! You can find the tutorial RIGHT HERE.
4. Palms! We will be leaving the palms outside of the church doors following worship on Sunday. We ask that you only consider coming to pick up palms if you can do it safely and if you do come to the church to pick up palms please be observant of other people as well - if you see someone picking up palms please wait in your vehicle until they are finished. Please consider staying home and simply using something from your backyard, household plants, or a "palm" of your own making - feel free to get crafty and share your ideas!
3. Holy Week Hymn Sing! Join Sam Tarasanko on Tuesday, April 7th for a Holy Week Hymn Sing on Facebook Live. Sam will be sharing some of the greatest Lenten and Holy Week Hymns found in our hymnals. A pdf with all the hymns can be found at the end of this post so that you are able to follow along and sing along. Join us as we enter Holy Week in song.
Hymns:
Savior of the Nations (ELW 263) – ok, this is an Advent hymn but Sam really likes it!
Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross (ELW 335)
Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed (ELW 337)
Beneath the Cross of Jesus (ELW 338)
Go to Dark Gethsemane (ELW 347)
Ah, Holy Jesus (ELW 349)
O Sacred Head, Now Wounded (ELW 351)
Were You There (ELW 353)
4. Holy Week Schedule – Join us for Worship! We will be streaming our Holy Week Worship for both Maundy Thursday and Good Friday on Facebook Live at 7:30pm with recordings of the services posted to the church website shortly after. Worship bulletins will be available on the church website prior to the start of services.
5. Celebrating Communion: There is a lot of talk in church circles about whether or not to celebrate Communion through our online gatherings. There is much to consider here and I plan to post a lengthy explanation early next week regarding this matter but to make things very simple – we will be celebrating Communion during our worship services for Maundy Thursday and Easter Sunday. All you will need is some bread, crackers, chips, anything of the like and a glass of wine, juice, water, or anything of the like. As I said, I will be sharing a more detailed explanation for this decision early next week and if you have any questions at all please do not hesitate to contact me directly at revsuloff@gmail.com.
6. Open Discussion Groups and Facebook Live Chat – Ask The Pastor Anything!: These events are postponed during Holy Week but will resume Tuesday, April 14th and Thursday, April 16th.
7. Online Giving and Offering: During this time we know that many are struggling and we certainly understand that but if you are able to continue with your offering please either mail your offering envelopes to the church or consider using our ONLINE GIVING option on the website – it is a quick and easy way to share your gifts with the congregation.
8. SCRIP and Caring for the Community: As said, we know that many are struggling or will be struggling. SCRIP is a great way to support the church and help your neighbors at the same time – one of the best ways that we can help our community right now is by donating gift cards from Weis or Giant to the church so that we can distribute them to folks in needs either within our community or through the Colonial Neighborhood Council and other Social Ministry organizations. SCRIP is easy! You can increase what you give to the church by buying these cards for your daily expenses and help out your neighbors by donating cards. Groceries, gas, Home Depot, Target, Ace Hardware Stores, Amazon purchases, etc. To place orders for Scrip online go to www.ShopWithScrip.com and click “Join A Program.” Our Enrollment Code is: DDA6EF5815851. Our Organization is: St. Peter’s Lutheran Church. Our Coordinator is: Jane Stettler, jstettler@krautharris.com. If you order cards for either personal use or donate we will be in touch with you to coordinate a safe way for you to pick up your cards.
9. First Communion: During these times we obviously need to postpone many things – one of those is the First Communion Workshop that was scheduled for this weekend and receiving First Communion on Maundy Thursday. As soon as we are able to return to somewhat normal activities here at the church we will work with each family who has a child who would like to receive their First Communion to reschedule the workshop, or workshops, and arrange a date that works well for families to celebrate First Communion.
10. Elastic Needed: There are volunteers throughout the community who are working to make masks during this time for various places that need them but elastic is in short supply – if you have new elastic in your sewing box that you can donate to help this cause please contact Pastor Suloff directly at revsuloff@gmail.com.
11. Church Office: Our church office will continue to function but it will obviously look very different for the time being as we are all going to be working remotely whenever it is possible. We will be going to the church periodically to check the mail, take care of administrative tasks that must be handled in the building, and update records. If you have a need during this time please do not hesitate to contact me directly on my cell phone or by email.
12. Check-ins: We ask all the people of St. Peter’s to check in with one another during this time – if you have time please call or email your friends and neighbors, the person who always sits in front on you at church, or someone whose name just pops into your head. If you are aware of any needs within our community please let me know directly. During this difficult time it is of the utmost importance that we communicate with one another and take care of one another as best we can.
13. Website: We will be using the church website (www.stpeterslafayettehill.org) and our Facebook page as our primary means of daily communication for the foreseeable future – please check the website frequently and please share information with others in the community and beyond.
14. Ideas: This is a new and different time for all of us – our church, community, nation, and world all must learn to do things differently – if you have any ideas for how we might better share the life, love, and joy of Jesus Christ please let me know!
15. Prayer: Look, we all feel kind of helpless right now and it is difficult – we can, and should, be socially distant during this difficult time. We can also pray because, quite frankly, that is what we do. Our prayer list is attached to the end of this email and I would encourage you all to find a bit of time each day to pray – for our families, our communities, our doctors, our nurses, all those who serve the world during this time, and for our world. We may be separated by distance but we can be united in prayer.
Well that covers everything for now St. Peter’s so we hope that you are staying safe and taking care of yourselves and one another – join us for worship and our other online activities, don’t forget to check the website frequently, support our ministries at St. Peter’s and help your neighbors if you are able, pray without ceasing, and as always keep sharing the life, love, and joy of Jesus Christ with all!
Your fellow servant in Christ,
Pastor Suloff
