Dear Friends,

As many of you saw yesterday in online worship, we are back to streaming from the sanctuary.  I was glad to see so many comments saying that you were excited to see the inside of the sanctuary.  It was good to be back in that space, though still very different without you all in the pews.  Sadly, the COVID 19 virus is getting worse – and much worse in Roane Co – right now.  That means that we haven't met the benchmarks to safely begin returning even a small portion of our normal worshiping congregation to the sanctuary.  At this point, all the guidelines say that it is not safe to have more than 10 people inside together without risking the spread of COVID 19.

We know that not worshiping together has been hard, and we know there are a few of you who do not have access to the internet and have not been able to participate in Facebook live worship at all.  We also know many of you do not feel comfortable coming back to the sanctuary now and would not choose to do so even if you could. Given all of that, the session would like to invite a few people each week to join the four of us there to live stream (myself, Judy, Jake Horton and Adam Badger).  Of course, safety protocols will be in place, so no more than 6 additional people will be invited each week.  Masks must be worn the entire time and social distance must be practiced.  If you would like to be on the list to receive an invitation, please let Susan, in the church office, know.  She will put together a list and we will send invitations beginning with Dec 6.

This will be our plan forward, to continue streaming worship from the sanctuary and to invite a few people each week to be in person, for the time being.  As the community gets the spread of the virus under control and benchmarks are met, we will be able to increase those numbers and safely have more people gather for worship in person.  Until that time, we will seek new ways to engage online for worship, fellowship and study.  Thank you for your patience and understanding as we all seek to be safe and keep each other safe.

This Wednesday will be the final Mark Bible study at 6:30pm. Please contact the church office for access information if you wish to participate.

Please keep Jon Hettrick (who is again out of the hospital) in your prayers as well as Marge.  Please also keep Carol Brown in your prayers.  She fell earlier this month and fractured her pelvis.  She was in a rehab facility for a couple of weeks but is now home.  Her daughter set up a way for friends to help with meals while she continues to recuperate (click HERE). Please also remember Laura Abigail, a 15 year old relative of Dianne Griffith's, who is very ill, Nolan Fagan, a two year old who has been diagnosed with leukemia, and all of those who have COVID 19.

Don't forget to order poinsettias, we will use them in the sanctuary for worship.  Also, please let Susan know if you would like an Angel to sponsor this year.  Family Promise could use some help raking leaves at the Day Center.  This is a great way to earn some community service/volunteer hours.  If you would like to help, please contact me.

I hope to see many of you at the drive through this coming Sunday at 2pm.  The study team also plans to have Advent devotionals for you to pick up and maybe some other Advent resources as well.  Stay well friends.

Grace and peace,

Wendy