Dear friends in Christ,

This past Sunday, the Introit of the Day from Psalms 25 and 27 had these words to encourage us:

My eyes are ever toward the Lord, for He will pluck my feet out of the net.
One thing I have asked of the Lord, that will I seek after;
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple.
For He will hide me in His shelter in the day of trouble;
He will conceal me under the cover of His tent;
He will lift me high upon a rock.
And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.

As I prayed these words together with you all as we worshiped by means of internet and video, I was reminded of the love and protection of our God, the One on whom we keep our eyes set, knowing that He is caring for us and keeping us safe in ways that we may not yet realize.  We follow as best we can the directions of our leaders in government at all levels. We use the knowledge and common sense that God has gifted us with. But what we cannot see is the hand of God, yet we know that He is here with us, and that with His help and aid, we pray that even in this moment that He will allow us finally to see the good He is doing, especially as He draws us ever closer to Him.

The other thing that the Psalmist speaks of these words is his joy found in not only the protection and deliverance that God provides him, but also the opportunity that he takes advantage of in being able to go to the house of the Lord and give thanks to the Lord for all His kindness.  It is strange not being able to do exactly that together in our dear church home.  I am glad that we are able to get together online, but it’s still not quite the same.  But until we can come together again, let’s continue to praise the Lord anyway, wherever we may find ourselves, for our God is indeed with us everywhere. So, “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His mercy endures forever!”

Just a few announcements:

1) Because of the order from the Governor ordering all non-essential businesses to close, we may find it difficult to keep to our plan to have someone in the church office on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  We will try to keep things going as best as we can the way that we can.

2) We plan to hold our Midweek Lenten Devotions and Bible Study tomorrow evening at 7:00 PM from the Multi-Purpose Room at church.  We will livestream it on Facebook Live, which is available from our Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/trinityelcmountrainier
You can also find the link, as well as an order of service at our website: www.tlcmr.org

3) Thank you to those who have continued to send in your offerings by mail.  Your gifts still remain a part of your worship of the Lord in giving back to Him of what He has given you, and, especially at this time, help us to keep our ministry together going.

4) It would be an understatement to say that I have been missing seeing all of you.  We are all trying as best we can to stay connected, even while we are apart.  I encourage all of us to reach out to one another in our church family.  Call each other up on the phone.  Send an email or text.  Post something to them on Facebook.  Whatever you do, it will just say, “Hi, I’m still here, and I hope you’re doing well.”  And be sure to do the same thing with your neighbors and friends.  We need each other.

Although much of what I’ve been doing has been concentrated on keeping our worship and study opportunities as “normal” as possible in these less than normal days, I have been trying to think of ways for us to try to connect virtually.  Perhaps we may look into having an online meeting (maybe on Zoom or another similar platform) to give us some time to fellowship with each other, “see” one another, check in on how everyone is doing, and pray together.  If this seems like something you would be interested in, please let me know and we’ll try our best to set it up.

I plan once again to go live on Facebook for a brief announcement and devotion moment after I send off this message.  Feel free to view either live or sometime later.

As we continue through these days, may God’s peace be our comfort and hope.  And “May the Lord watch between me and thee, while we are absent one from another!”

In Christ’s Love,
+Pastor