Pastoral Chat #1 with Joel

Hi friends,

Joel’s gonna host an online ZOOM™ chat today from 2pm-3pm for anyone who would like to join in.

He’ll share some thoughts on reading scripture, and share a method/strategy for reading Scripture that you might find helpful.

He has a couple whiteboard drawings ready to go, and is eager to spend some time connecting with you.

So join in to spend some time with your pastor and pal.

How to connect on ZOOM™: (The same program we utilized on Sunday)

• You’ll need to download ZOOM™ software if you haven’t already. Make sure you do that before the meeting begins. You can also download the ZOOM™ app if using your phone.

• To Join ZOOM Meeting, click this link: https://zoom.us/j/280694962

See ya’ll soon.

Pastoral Update: This Week at Grace Fellowship

Hi Grace family,

Love you all. It's a joy to be your pastor. 

We wanted to do the very best we can to present the plan for the week. Rather than hour-by-hour or day-by-day updates, we wanted to lay out a course for the week. Some of these decisions are specific to advice from health officials and some are specific to GF circumstances. 

We will reevaluate this plan on Monday, March 23rd. Thanks for your flexibility and patience with us.

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The Plan for March 16-22:

Events:

• All Grace teaching, training and equipping events are postponed this week (Grace Greenhouse and our Lenten Ladies study)

• Grace Home Groups will not officially meet until further notice but they will continue to serve as the primary place to give and receive familial care in our church. Your home group leaders will be in touch with a plan that best addresses the individuals in your group.

• We will plan to gather via a Congregational Zoom meeting on Sunday, March 22nd. It will look much like yesterday’s meeting. We will pray, share, hear from God’s word, and sing a hymn.

Other Resources:

• We will be providing a number of devotional resources for your use throughout the week. Stay tuned through our social channels, or here on Grace’s blog (gracebham.org/blog). Those will be our primary places. We will continue to do some emails, but many of those are getting lost in the volume of emails from employers/other groups.

• We are working toward some specific Grace Kids’ Resources.

• We are working on a Congregational Needs Google Form that can be filled in for internal Grace needs.

• Again, we will revisit these things next Monday, March 23rd, to make a plan for that week.

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A Window into Our Thinking

There are four values that are guiding are decisions. These are not checkpoints, as much as criteria for how our ministry leadership is processing things and weighing hard decisions. I thought it might be helpful to share these with you all:

1. Unity: The Lord has given us particular circumstances at Grace. A third of our folks are in the healthcare field. Also, for a church our size, we have a number of health concerns. Satan can use this as an opportunity to introduce division. Any decisions we make we want to think in terms of unity.

2. Wisdom/Humility: God gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5-6) and he is honored by wisdom. In fact, Jesus is the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24). We want to listen to the God-gifted health officials in our city, and our own people healthcare workers who have done a tremendous job serving us. We are making decisions based on collective wisdom from reputable sources outside our church and inside (By the way, you guys know who you are…and I publicly want to thank you for this).

3. Love: We want to be conscientiously loving and serving the folks in our church struggling disproportionately with fear and worry. We want to do this with gentleness and grace even when and if some of us do not personally feel those emotions.

4. Faith/Hope: The Lord is at work. I see the gifts of our folks coming to the forefront. I think he is inviting us into something special that we could not have planned for. We have faith in him. We trust him. We are hopeful for how he is going to shape our church family in this crisis. Our hearts are, ironically, full and eager and enthusiastic. We are asking the Grace Fellowship 2020 question. And it goes like this: “Here is our circumstances. What is the invitation from our Lord?"

Love you all,

Joel

A Prayer

Grace member Alayna Wells wrote a beautiful prayer that was shared in our meeting on March 15th. We wanted to share it here:

Lord Jesus, we thank you that despite unusual circumstances, nothing can stop us from joining together to praise you.

Nothing in the present or in things to come, nothing in life or in death, nothing in sickness or in tribulation or distress, nothing in height or depth or in all of creation can separate us from your love.

Many of us are concerned and fighting worry. Many of us are confused and unknowing of what lies ahead in the coming weeks, days, and hours. The world is ever-changing around us, but you remain the same. When things feel as if they are out of control, you remind us that you are fully in control. Voices tell us to run and hide, but you tell us that you are our hiding place, a safe refuge in the midst of the storm.

As believers, we belong to you, Lord Jesus, in mind and body and spirit. We are yours, and yours only. You have come before us and secured for us an ultimate shelter, a rich inheritance, a safe place to lay our heads. You have never left us alone, and you promise to always remain with us in the current age and the age to come. We declare with confidence that in you, we ultimately have nothing to fear.

We ask you, Lord, to give us listening ears. Help us to turn to your Word and to prayer when we feel anxious. Help us not to cower inwardly, but to hold outstretched arms to our neighbors, our families and our friends in need. We ask that where we see sin and destruction and fear, we offer abounding grace to others. Let us be a light in dark places. We need YOU, Lord Jesus, to keep us steady and to keep our eyes fixed on you.

Help us to tune out the clanging symbols around us and listen to you speaking over us [based on Isaiah 43]:

“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned, And the flame shall not consume you.

For I am the Lord, your God, The Holy One of Israel, your savior. You are precious in my eyes and I love you.

Fear not for I am with you.”

Jesus, we thank you that you are who you say you are: our protector and friend. We love you and ask that you remain and abide with us. Help us to run to you, the one who cares for us more than anything we can comprehend. It is through your unchanging Spirit and holy name we pray, Amen.