“Peace be to the whole community, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all who have an undying love for our Lord Jesus Christ.” – Ephesians 6:23 & 24
So does the apostle Paul close his letter to the Ephesians. And so do we (Pastor Ron and President Kim Nally) begin this letter to you, people of God who form Trinity Lutheran Church. We have just been through the strangest Lent most of us could ever imagine. But Easter arrived, and our Lord has risen, whether we were able to be in the church building to celebrate the event or not. We are writing this letter to tell you that, true to resurrection, there are many signs of new life taking place among Trinity members every day, in spite of Coronavirus.
We admit, we were a little scared about money several weeks ago when people were no longer allowed to come to church, because when people come to church, offerings come to church. But you know – we wrote you a letter (which you can find on the website) saying you can get your offering to the church by direct mail (c/o Tony Nally at 110 David Drive, Boonsboro, 21713) or by E-Offering, and you responded immediately! Tony tells us that five more people signed up for the E- Offering (thanks Tony, for helping people do this, and for keeping track of our stewardship in this transition). Because of your generosity we have been able to pay our monthly bills. We are heartened by your response, and we take this opportunity to announce again – please send your offerings by mail or E-Offering if you have not yet done so.
Now, for a few personal words of gratitude: We certainly wish to thank Kristin Bowl, who transitioned us from worship inside our building to worship online. Before we were under stay at home orders from Governor Hogan, while we were still trying to figure out what “social distancing” would mean to us on Sunday mornings, we asked Kristin to see if she could record a Sunday sermon in advance and place it on our website so that people who could not attend church on March 15 could have an alternative. Well, she not only recorded the sermon, she recorded the lessons and prayers. By the following Sunday, when we could no longer worship in the church, she and our organist Marianne added music to the recording. The next Sunday brought an acolyte (thank you, Alexandra Bowl). And on Palm Sunday, we had a host of readers, all sharing the word of God from their homes or backyards, all done seamlessly. And every Sunday sees more detail being added.
There is a great surprise in this. We are receiving texts, emails, and phone calls from people visiting our website and watching our digital services. Many of these are people we have never seen enter our building. Could it be that a window opened as a door closed for Trinity? Could it be that God is calling us to find new ways to proclaim the good news?
Secondly, a shout out to our treasurer Cindy Hutchinson. Cindy moved very quickly in response to the Payroll Protection Program, a government program for any organization that is paying its employees during the pandemic. This program reimburses small business (including church congregations) for up to eight weeks of pay for their employees during the pandemic. Cindy applied to the Small Business Administration and we learned just this morning that Cindy’s work paid off. WE WERE APPROVED!!
Thirdly, the pictorial directories have arrived. Everyone who had their picture taken for the directory will receive a copy, when we figure out how to get them into your hands. Thank you Melissa Schwalbe! We thank Melissa for two directories, actually. In addition to the pictorial directory, she has assembled an updated contact list of members and friends of Trinity. This list has been emailed to members and is available on our website. Just go to the Members-only page at www.trinitylutheranboonsboro.org/members-only.
Coronavirus may have changed things and may have stopped a few things. But in many cases, it has only helped us get better at what we do. Our Men’s Bible Class still meets on Sunday mornings at 8:00, but we meet by ZOOM and by smart phone. Before Coronavirus, we used to meet every other Sunday. Now we meet every Sunday. Our Tuesday Morning Ladies bible Class meets by conference call every Tuesday – we haven’t missed a meeting yet! One of our Adult Sunday School classes now “meets” by e-mail. That is, Pastor Ron sends the lesson out earlier in the week and on Sunday mornings, class members light candles in their homes, pray for their brothers and sisters in class, and “do” their lessons. Again – class members report a level of connection with each other as deep as or deeper than when they meet in person.
Our youth group has been having Bible study on Sunday evenings. Just like the Men’s Bible Class, the young people meet by ZOOM. This group used to meet once a month – for the last couple of weeks through ZOOM they have met weekly with Jennifer Poffenberger! Pastor Ron will shortly be conducting confirmation classes with our young folks by ZOOM and expects Confirmation to take place right on schedule, if we are allowed back into our building by Pentecost (May 31).
We also put an announcement on a local Facebook group “Boonsboro Helps Each Other During National Pandemic” with 900 followers, offering to help the elderly with getting groceries or meals. People have also left messages with us, saying they are in need of food and we delivered that food. In addition, some members of Trinity have been making meals and delivering those meals to our older members who are alone or ill.
We are so grateful to God that Trinity has once again has met a challenge and its members stepped up, did what was needed to do to meet the challenge, and in the process have been transformed.
All that being said, we want you to know that we hear your hunger and thirst too. We are getting God’s word to our people through the internet, but we are not able to do the sacrament that way. Many people have asked if there is some way we could have Holy Communion even though we are not meeting in the church building. The short answer is “not yet”. Because in Lutheran understanding of Holy Communion, the sacrament takes place in an assembly of people, and no matter how you slice it, a recorded service (or an online service) does not qualify as an assembly. The longer answer is – our pastors and theologians are now thinking about this and talking about this as never before, because we have never before faced circumstances like the present (on the one hand, a pandemic which isolates people, on the other hand, an internet which brings people together). In the meantime, until a resolution happens, our challenge is to satisfy our spiritual hunger by God’s word, without the sacrament. Like any fast, it means that when we are allowed back into our building, we will appreciate Holy Communion all the more.
Another word for Holy Communion is “Eucharist”, which means “Thanksgiving”. We of Trinity have much to be thankful for from our Lord at this time. We are learning again to be church in a new way. We ask you to please reach out to Kristin, Cindy, Melissa, Jennifer and Tony if you can and thank them for a job well done. We also ask you to continue to be vigilant as this pandemic drags on. Please don’t leave your houses, only when absolutely necessary, and make sure to wear a mask and use hand sanitizer when you do. Please continue to keep in contact with people by phone calls and cards (we notice a lot of cards, e-mails and phone calls are being made among our people right now too).
God bless you,
Pastor Ron and Kim
