Weekly Announcements from Pastor Valerie Brown-Greenly, Senior Pastor

Weekly Announcements from Pastor Valerie Brown-Greenly, Senior Pastor

Dear Friends,
I hope your week is moving along nicely.  We’ve been having a great week of VBS with children, youth leaders and adult leaders.  Special thanks to Karleen Fusenig, our Director of Christian Education, for all of her effort and work to make this a wonderful experience for everyone!
This Sunday is our farewell/recognition of Deb Humrick as she retires from her bookkeeper position at Peace.  Please join us this Sunday for a cake/fellowship time following the worship hour, greet Deb and thank her for her many years of service among us.  We certainly wish Deb well as she begins her retirement journey.  If you are unable to attend, you may send a card to the church office and we will see that she receives it.
Office hours remain the same this week and next week, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, 8:30am to Noon.  
Thank you for your Food Shelf donations.  We feel we are currently well stocked and prepared for future food distributions along with a good start for Fall needs.
Thank you as well for your ongoing financial giving and gifting.  Our budget is currently holding its own as we head through this month and into September.  Your gifts are making it possible for start up costs and regular spending increases that return in September.  Thank you to those of you who have made additional financial gifts to the mission and ministry of Peace.  If you are in a situation to do so, and feel lead to do so, please consider an additional gift to mission and ministry.  You are making all the difference!  You will receive a newsletter in the next two weeks and in that newsletter you can look at the giving trends and our current status.
As mentioned, there is a newsletter/mailing coming soon.  In this mailing there will be information about September worship and programs, and our current status as we move into the Fall.  
A bit about masking:  Because of the increase of COVID illness in Minnesota, and the fact that the percentage of illness has been hovering around %5, we are going to mask in worship.  As we welcome families with children under the age of 12, those with auto-immune illnesses, and the unvaccinated, we will care for each other in the worship setting, and the best way to do that and be in person, is to mask.
We are not cancelling events: for instance, this coming Sunday, we will remain masked until we have our cake/beverage and are seated at our tables to enjoy conversation with one another.  It’s not hard to do these small things and we won’t make it hard.  Please note:  Any food served in the Fellowship Hall, or any event when we sit at tables to enjoy food, cake and coffee, we do at our own risk.  Each of you is aware of your vaccination status, so please use your self-knowledge to make the best decisions for your health.
One of the things I hope we can keep in mind is that we are moving forward and we are doing it in a reasonable, sustained, and informed manner.  The COVID pandemic will not last forever, and I hope we can season our spirits with that good news.  I know moving back and forth between masking and non-masking is difficult for some of our friends, but it won’t last forever.  Thank you so much for your patience, your willingness to care for others, and the witness of your faith.  I hope you have a good week!  
Take care…Be safe…
Pastor Valerie
Cell:  612-280-6493     Email:  [email protected]
Church:  763-757-4459     Email:  vbrown-greenly@peacecoonrapids.org