March 2020

Services are Temporarily Canceled

The coronavirus pandemic has caused the Church worldwide to be the church in place. All events, meetings, and gatherings on our church campus are temporarily canceled.

Please join our Sunday worship service online at https://www.plumcreekpc.com/sermon-blog

Session will re-evaluate continued cancellations by April 1, and they are following Allegheny county and Pennsylvania restrictions.

Easter services will happen, perhaps through zoom.com, on April 12th. Then again on the first Sunday we can safely gather together as every Sunday is a day to celebrate Resurrection. When we do gather together again I recommend we each bring a bouquet of flowers to show our deep appreciation for one another and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Your Session is on duty and keeping you all in prayer.

You are the Church
Allegheny county has mandated a stay in place order. Mandatory social distancing is to protect you and to stop the spread of covid-19.  Many of my clergy colleagues are making videos of themselves giving lessons and sermons. I have chosen, so far, to use the written word and audio. Session has asked me to be open to change and I am.

I view this quarantine period as an opportunity for you to be the Church. Together individuals and families take advantage of the possibility of you, the Church, hearing your voice and your thoughts as the word of God proclaimed. Rather than being the spectator you are participating in being the Church of Jesus Christ. You do NOT need a person’s image and voice speaking to you; God gave you, children and adults, a wonderful voice to use in giving him glory. This is one of the reasons we have liturgists, to allow the experience of participating in, not just observing, worship.

Sitting in a pew, where I sat for years, the Holy Spirit, the sermon, and your own discernment process are at work together. The sermon I develop in prayer may not be the sermon you hear, which is a blessed thing. The work of any minister is help the Church interact with Jesus, know Jesus more, and live as Jesus commanded. This new opportunity to interact with the sermon may be a great tool for revitalizing our congregation as we interact more and more with God’s holy word.

We are no longer in pews, instead I have asked the community to pause on Sunday mornings to pray, read silently, read aloud, and listen to your voice or the voice of children presenting the scripture story and interpretation. An online church experience through words removes the charisma of the preacher and provides space for Jesus. I see this as an amazing opportunity for you the Church to encounter Jesus first hand, at home. By proclaiming the sermon yourself you may hear a new calling in your life. Children giving the sermon may feel a curious draw to ministry.

My deep hope is that by hearing God’s word spoken by you or by children, you will have first hand experience with proclaiming God’s hope, God’s love, and God’s vision and feel empowered. My words written come from my experience with God during study and prayer. They are but a tool to raise your own experience, wonder, and even questions with and for God.

Being the Church in a new way

Having ‘delivered’ the sermon within your family, whether on a Sunday or any day, the next part of being the Church is how we live Jesus into our community where we have an opportunity to be Jesus. Businesses are closed so people may be using their vacation time up staying at home during covid-19. Healthcare workers and essential businesses are open and on the frontline providing what the community needs to stay at home. More and more people will be out of work as social distancing and necessary closures continue. Your friends and family are becoming vulnerable.

You Are the Church

Assembling brings us together once or twice a week. Necessary social distancing took that away so the Church needs to be intentional about staying together.

~ Call your church family, check in on each other

~ Call your neighbors, check in on each other

~ Be a neighbor by sitting outside as the weather improves, and greet neighbors as they walk their dogs, or stroll outside

~Be a neighbor by sharing supplies you have in abundance but they may not

~ Email is a connection, use it to send a note of encouragement and ‘thinking of you’ to a different person each day

~ Send cards and letters to friends and anyone in our church directory

~ Send donations to the Plum Food Pantry

~ Share with Session and me organizations that can use hands on support

~ Be creative in staying connected and sharing support

~ PRAY 3 times a day, morning, noon, and night naming members of your church family and for Churches around the globe to be the Church for neighbor and stranger

~ Guided Prayer – My favorite daily prayer site is created by the North Umbria Community in England: https://www.northumbriacommunity.org/offices/morning-prayer/

You Are the Church
To God be the Glory!

New Benevolence Fund

Your Session has established a new benevolence fund. With the mandatory closure of non-essential businesses some of our church family will be out of work soon, or already are out of work. Some folk can use up vacation leave, but that will end; others may be laid off. The possibility of financial needs rising within our congregation has caused Session to create this new benevolence fund.

The finances of our church are based on members and friends supporting our various ministries. Session sees this current crisis as a time the church can be present with her people. The pastor’s annual report to the congregation referenced letting the Light of Christ shine through us. This fund is a marvelous way of letting the Light of Christ shine through this church. Donors to the fund and church participants who receive funds will be touched by the Light of Christ.

Pastor Jane will administer the benevolence fund so that all confidences are kept secure. She may be contacted via email: pastorjesterline@gmail.com or leave a message on her church phone.
Bonnie Jackson, Clerk of Session

In this time of isolation and restrictions be the Church wherever you go and share the love of Christ at all times.