Dear First Lutheran Community, March 13, 2020
Out of deep love and caution for the multiple communities housed at First Lutheran Church, we will be suspending our regular in-house worship services and all programming until further notice; this includes Wellness Wednesdays and music rehearsals. While we hope this is a temporary way of being for a few weeks, we will “stay in touch” with you in a variety of ways - emails, facebook, online worship elements, and more. As a community that values in-person, face-to-face contact with one another, we are also aware that there are so many ways to communicate with one another - phone calls, letter writing, texting, facebook and instagram. Just because we are physically distancing from one another does not mean we are socially distancing.
This difficult decision comes as a result of information from the Centers for Disease Control, and discussions with the MN Department of Health and other area churches who are concerned with large gatherings of vulnerable people. And while our congregation is not large, our parish community is very large and many are vulnerable. Every week, several 100 people walk through our doors receiving services and finding ways to gather daily.
In the coming days, we will have more information as we respond to the health pandemic. We will continue to lift each other up in prayer, we will keep on doing what we can to meet the needs of people living without food and shelter, and we will ask you to be even more engaged as we give what we can and we provide care to those isolated.
Finally, the Council Forum and the meeting of the congregation and scheduled for the next two weeks will be postponed. While we don’t know what the future holds, we can trust that God holds our future and we can breathe easy.
I share with you some important words from Tom Trenney, a church musician from Lincoln, NE: “Music is not cancelled. It will just sound a little different for awhile. Church is not cancelled. Worship will just look a little different for a while. Relationships will not be cancelled. Thy will just feel a little different for awhile. Faith will not be cancelled. It will just grow in different ways for awhile. Love will not be cancelled. In fact, we will need more of it for awhile.”
For now, breathe, stay calm, wash your hands, pick up the phone, write a letter to someone, share the books you are reading, movies you are watching, things you are doing that sustain you and give you life…and keep on living love where you are. At 10:00am on Sunday, March 15th, find a quiet place to sit and pray knowing that our worshipping community will be doing this together wherever they are. If you need to talk, I am a phone call, text, or email away. Peace to you, Pastor Chris and the leadership of First Lutheran. 651-247-8926, pastor.chris@me.com
Out of deep love and caution for the multiple communities housed at First Lutheran Church, we will be suspending our regular in-house worship services and all programming until further notice; this includes Wellness Wednesdays and music rehearsals. While we hope this is a temporary way of being for a few weeks, we will “stay in touch” with you in a variety of ways - emails, facebook, online worship elements, and more. As a community that values in-person, face-to-face contact with one another, we are also aware that there are so many ways to communicate with one another - phone calls, letter writing, texting, facebook and instagram. Just because we are physically distancing from one another does not mean we are socially distancing.
This difficult decision comes as a result of information from the Centers for Disease Control, and discussions with the MN Department of Health and other area churches who are concerned with large gatherings of vulnerable people. And while our congregation is not large, our parish community is very large and many are vulnerable. Every week, several 100 people walk through our doors receiving services and finding ways to gather daily.
In the coming days, we will have more information as we respond to the health pandemic. We will continue to lift each other up in prayer, we will keep on doing what we can to meet the needs of people living without food and shelter, and we will ask you to be even more engaged as we give what we can and we provide care to those isolated.
Finally, the Council Forum and the meeting of the congregation and scheduled for the next two weeks will be postponed. While we don’t know what the future holds, we can trust that God holds our future and we can breathe easy.
I share with you some important words from Tom Trenney, a church musician from Lincoln, NE: “Music is not cancelled. It will just sound a little different for awhile. Church is not cancelled. Worship will just look a little different for a while. Relationships will not be cancelled. Thy will just feel a little different for awhile. Faith will not be cancelled. It will just grow in different ways for awhile. Love will not be cancelled. In fact, we will need more of it for awhile.”
For now, breathe, stay calm, wash your hands, pick up the phone, write a letter to someone, share the books you are reading, movies you are watching, things you are doing that sustain you and give you life…and keep on living love where you are. At 10:00am on Sunday, March 15th, find a quiet place to sit and pray knowing that our worshipping community will be doing this together wherever they are. If you need to talk, I am a phone call, text, or email away. Peace to you, Pastor Chris and the leadership of First Lutheran. 651-247-8926, pastor.chris@me.com
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A merger of three Lutheran churches formed the ELCA in 1988. They were The American Lutheran Church, the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches and the Lutheran Church in America.Now 25 years later, the ELCA is a church that shares a living, daring confidence in God’s grace.
As a Reconciling in Christ congregation, our wide welcome includes people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, intersex, and allied. Whatever your sexual orientation, gender, race, or economic status, you are welcome here!
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463 Maria Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55106 * Pastor Chris Olson Bingea * 651-247-8926 * pastor.chris@me.com