Lot’s going on this week, and three jumped out that require further or more detailed mention from me.

First, this Sunday, Nov. 22 at 11am, we are having a congregational meeting to vote on our Welcoming Statement, upon which we will become a Reconciling in Christ Congregation. We sent out a letter to everyone a couple of weeks ago announcing this and giving the guidelines for how to participate and how the meeting will function. If you need a refresher, please click here. Remember, in order to vote, you must attend the meeting.

Secondly, take 2! We attempted live streaming a worship service this past Sunday morning. It didn’t go as planned. The streaming service we selected did not cooperate well and therefore we never “went live.” We believe that we have solved that problem and are set to try again this week. You can access a worship service, conducted in our sanctuary, live at 8:30am this Sunday, and hopefully every Sunday after that. If 8:30 is too early for you, the service will be available immediately afterwards on YouTube. The best way to access the live stream or the recording of it is to go to our website, www.htelc.com and look for the link. We ask that you “Subscribe” to our YouTube channel, as doing so, it will make it easier for you and others to find us in the future. There is a big red button with the word “Subscribe” in white on the main page that you can click.

Third, if you have not heard by now, we are suspending all indoor worship services and other church activities due to the rise of COVID-19 cases in our community and across the country. This was not an easy decision to make. There are thoughts that we could continue meeting and continue enforcing our safety guidelines, and most likely, all would be well. But as stated before, the only guaranteed way to stop the spread of COVID is by not gathering, in-person, at all. Remember, just because we are not physically together, does not mean we are spiritually together. God’s love knows no boundaries, including the boundary of this virus in the world. There are lots of ways to connect with each other and continue being the church in the world. The pandemic will never stop that.

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Tim