Letter to Congregation 10-21-2020
Pastor Letter 10/21/20
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,
In recent days I have been struggling with how the divisiveness in our world, even in our own wider church universal, is hurting all of us, but more importantly, it is failing to live into the ways God calls Christians to act. In his letter to the Thessalonians, Paul tells the church to encourage one another and build one another up, just as they were doing. I believe God is calling us to the same. In these trying times we, as a church ,are still doing great at supporting, encouraging and trying to build one another up. How though can we encourage, support and build one another up in the wider church and community and live into this church’s mission to be the voice and hands of God and the beacon on the hill? In these times let us find ways we can lead by example, to encourage the wider church and our wider community.
In order to encourage others, we, too, need time to fill ourselves with the love of God and worship is one way we give to God of ourselves and recall God’s goodness in our lives. This week, we continue with the phase 1 worship plan with the changes described in last week’s letter. We are reminded that this means we continue to wear masks, keep our safe distances and remain in our seats until dismissed by an usher. May we remember that we do this out of love for each other. As the words of the hymn sung this week goes, “They will know we are Christians by our love”. Love for all people is displayed when we encourage and lift one another up, even when we disagree with them. For those who can and desire to remain worshiping from home are encouraged to continue doing so by joining us virtually on Facebook or YouTube. May we find ourselves worshiping by glorifying God and filling us up with God’s love so we can share that love by encouraging, supporting and building up our wider church and community even in these challenging times.
In Christ Peace,
Pastor Nicki
Some helpful links…
Click on the link below near the time the service begins at 10:00am to watch the live stream https://www.facebook.com/espresbyterian/
YouTube recording can be found at https://www.espresbyterian.com/worship/ or https://www.youtube.com/user/ESPresbyterian
Additionally, bulletins and an online hymnal have been put on the website and can be found at https://www.espresbyterian.com/worship/sunday-bulletin/
