Dear members of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church,
Christ is risen!
That’s our Easter acclamation and the source of our eternal hope. Where Christ is, there He wants us to be.
Here’s an update on our Church services. The Church Council met last night, April 28, to evaluate our options and consider a course of action during this time of health emergency. We will continue to offer only online services for the next two Sundays. The Council plans to meet again on Tuesday, the 12th of May and reevaluate our plans, considering if we can meet on Sunday, May 17.
Our first gathering at church after this long absence, whether on May 17 or later, will be different. We will likely have a limited attendance -- vulnerable members won’t yet be ready to return to public gatherings. We will be implementing careful, responsible precautions, to keep each other safe. It might be a while before I again shake everyone’s hand. We don’t plan on passing the offering plate through the pews, but you will drop off your offering in a basket or box as you enter or leave. Holy Communion will be distributed with great care. Social distancing has become our shared responsibility.
Even when we announce the opening of church, each individual will have to determine if they are ready to return. Under normal circumstances, it is sinful to despise and neglect the word and sacraments of the church. That’s what the 3rd commandment teaches. But during a time of disease and plague, the righteous thing to do may be to stay away from the gathering of the church to protect your health and the the health of others. That’s what the 5th commandment teaches. I am praying for all of you and the Spirit of God’s help for you to make decisions you’ve probably never had to consider before.
I would like to hear from everyone. Send me a message or give me a call:
1. How are you doing?
2. What thoughts and concerns do you have about when you return to church?
3. Do you have any trouble getting my messages, online services, and studies?
At the time of Daniel, King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army conquered Jerusalem and took Daniel and many others captive. Exiled in Babylon, these people of God were not able to work as they should, social as they wanted or worship as they were taught. Yet God was with them. He protected them from the mouths of lions (Daniel 6) and the flames of the furnace (Daniel 4). God even prospered these his servants in their time of exile such that their unbelieving captors became aware of God’s power and mercy. King Nebuchadnezzar himself through the witness of Daniel and the others, learned to call on God, praising him this way, “his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation.”
Let’s pray for a similar conversion in our day.
O God of power and mercy, You kept Daniel and his friends safe in their time of exile and distress. So we pray you to watch over your people here and scattered throughout the world. Protect us in this time of pestilence. We plead for your mercy to bring a swift end to this pandemic. Prosper our work and our economy. But above all we pray that in this time of testing you would work repentance in the hearts of people everywhere, that they would turn from their sins and look to you for deliverance from all evil, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Lord be with you.
Pastor Ron Koch
319-269-2220
http://stpaulfburg.blogspot.com/
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