Grow Christ's Life in Every Heart

Members of Faith Lutheran,

 

          Our community, country and our world are in a time and experience that most of us have not been a part of before.  Things are changing rapidly, and we are having to adapt.  Thank goodness there is Someone who does not change…Someone who is with us through all times…Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!  Our God holds to His promises that He is always with us, always caring for us, always providing for us.  His love never changes for us…and that is our hope in times of uncertainty or even fear.  As I mentioned in the sermon on Sunday, we hear from Psalm 46, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, 3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling.”  Martin Luther used this as a text for his famous Reformation hymn, “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.”  All the verses of this hymn are great words of comfort, but let me just share verse two:  “No strength of ours can match his might.  We would be lost, rejected.  But now a champion comes to fight, Whom God Himself elected.  You ask who this may be?  The Lord of hosts is He, Christ Jesus, mighty Lord, God’s only Son, adored.  He holds the field victorious.”  No matter what we are facing or going through, we have the hope, love, and comfort of our Lord Jesus Christ!!

          With the changes in our community with the COVID-19/coronavirus we have an order of “shelter in place” until April 7.  This is asking our community to stay home, but able to go out and get necessities that you need; especially if you are 60 and older or have an immune system that is down.  The Contra Costa County document is available here.   https://cchealth.org/coronavirus/pdf/HO-COVID19-SIP-0316-2020.pdf

 

Here are the changes that we will have at Faith during this time:

 

• Worship – we will have worship available live on Facebook for the following times –

  • Lenten services – live at 12:00 pm on Wednesdays

  • Sunday services – live at 9:00 am

  • All services will then be downloaded by the next day on here under Services Videos.

• All activities through this time period are canceled or postponed unless they can be done online. 

• Need help or food delivered? - Please contact Amber at amber@welcome2faith.com if you are in need of medicine or food to be delivered to you.  Also contact her if you are under 65 (sorry, that is the order by the governor) and would be able to deliver items to members that need it.  She will be organizing this.

 

Things you can do during this time:

• Pray – pray for your family and friends, the community and the leadership, a cure to COVID-19

• Do not fear – know that together with the hope we have in our Lord, we will make it through this time.

• Enjoy time in God’s Word – what a time provided for us to “be still and know that He is God”!  Spend time in devotions. There are many sights that provide them for you.  Some of our Lutheran sights are lhm.org, lcms.org, youthsource.com, cph.org, and more.  You can also to the Lutheran Hour website at https://www.lhm.org/learn/ and try their short Learn courses on a variety of topics.

• Prayer Walk – We may not be meeting this Saturday, but you can take a mental walk through your neighborhood and pray for your neighbors.

 

Offering – still remember your church during this time in sending your offering by mail or going and clicking “Donate Here” over on your right.  We also ask you to consider donating to our Freewill Offering to help cover our preschool staff’s salary during this period of no classes.  For many of our staff this is their main source of income for their families.  We thank you in advanced.

 

Remember to:

• Wash your hands regularly…20 seconds – try singing “I am Jesus Little Lamb” or saying the Lord’s Prayer for time.

• Social Distancing – work at staying six feet from people during this time, that is, outside of your home.

• If you are an older adult or have health issues, please stay home and protect yourself.

• Again you can go to this website to get more details of the order - .   https://cchealth.org/coronavirus/pdf/HO-COVID19-SIP-0316-2020.pdf

 

If you have any concerns during this time or need to contact us at church, feel free to do so. Let me leave you with these words from Psalm 46: 10 “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”11 The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” – Psalm 46:10-11

 

Serving H↑m,

Vicar Tim Roggow 

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Readings for Sunday, March 29

Ezekiel 37:1-14

Psalm 130
Romans 8:1-11
John 11:17-27, 38-53