Weekly Announcements from Pastor Valerie Brown-Greenly, Senior Pastor

Weekly Announcements from Pastor Valerie Brown-Greenly, Senior Pastor

Dear Friends,
Today is the Epiphany of Our Lord.  Epiphany is a Christian holiday primarily commemorating the Magi’s visit to the baby Jesus and the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist.  In the Eastern traditions, the holiday is ‘Theophany,’ the focus on Jesus’ baptism, seen as the manifestation of Christ as both fully human and fully divine.  Epiphany is celebrated 12 days after Christmas on the 6th of January.
I hope you had a wonderful Christmas season, and that you are settling into this New Year.  Here at church, we are turning from one year and traveling into the next as we do the different activities of preparations for the coming days and weeks.
We all agree these last months have been outside the norm.  We live in hope for the coming months with the opportunities for vaccinations and a return to a more ‘normal’ experience of life, family and gatherings of friends.
Like you, I am anxious to know when the church will begin to ‘open up.’  At this point in the journey, we have no plans for in-person worship for the coming weeks.  Having said that, we also know in-person worship will be our reality at some point.  There will be a lot of flex and change for us in the coming weeks, and we will all continue to work together for the benefit of everyone.
One of the things some of us have noticed is that the web page has been in transition.  From the outside, we would think transitioning would be an easy task, but it is not.  Our new company has been working tirelessly to complete the transition from our previous host.  In the next several days we will have our domain back and all will be well out there on the website.  Thank you for your patience while we complete this important work.
Worship is being broadcast to the Peace Lutheran Church Worship page on Facebook and the worship service is being uploaded to the website.  Hopefully, all the transitions will be complete by the weekend.  Again, thank you for your patience and all of your encouragement.
I want to thank my staff for all of their efforts over the Christmas season.  We had meaningful parking lot worships on Christmas Eve and a wonderful live stream service.  Most everyone who works on staff was together on Christmas Eve, providing these opportunities.
I want all of us to appreciate the work that goes into putting together quality online worship.  Everyone, from the tech staff, to our music directors, musicians, soloists, bell choir, pastors, administration, you name it, everyone has had a part to play in sustaining ministry over these last many months.
Thank you for all of the donations to the Food Shelf.  A few of our members went ‘all out’ in providing and delivering much needed supplies right after the Christmas holiday.  We need to replenish the Food Shelf.  Thank you ahead of time for your continued donations.  Current items needed include canned chicken, canned tuna, spaghettios and ravioli, jam and jelly.
My sense is that we will do one more large distribution of food in mid-February and then prepare again for the Easter Holiday basket distribution in late March.  The February date is fluid.  Importantly, if you are food insecure or know of a family member or friend who is food insecure, do not hesitate to come in to receive food.  We are here to serve you and the community.
Public office hours remain the same.  Please drop off donations on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings from 8:30am-Noon, and continue to make appointments for Thursday mornings from 8:30am-Noon.  Remember, I am always available if you would like to set up a personal meeting time.  Contact me, and we will find a time that works for you, especially those of you who are working on Thursday mornings.
We are here to serve.  I am here to serve.  Please let me know if you have been hospitalized or desire prayer.  Please let me know if you need to talk or if you need a visit.
Take care, be safe!   
Pastor Valerie
Cell: 612-280-6493   Email: [email protected]
Office: 763-757-4459   Email: [email protected]