Hi, Everyone:
This Sunday, December 5, is the 2nd Sunday in Advent and Nacho Name Tag Sunday. The 10 am Worship Service will be indoors in the Sanctuary! This the first Sunday that we will be meeting in the Sanctuary since March 8, 2020. We will still be wearing masks, observing physical distancing, and using the individual pre-packaged communion elements. Plus, we will have windows open and fans for air circulation. Zoom Sunday School, Coffee Chat, and Communion will be at the usual times, and a pre-recorded Online Worship Service will still be available.
There have been some changes in the Sanctuary. We have three cameras installed with which we have been recording Pastor Tim’s parts of the online worship service, and which we will use to stream and record the services in the future. For now, we are still doing a separate pre-recorded service until we get comfortable with live camera work and software. So go ahead and wear your Sunday worst – no one will see you online (yet). The most noticeable change will be the Audio-Visual control booth which houses the AV equipment and the people to run it (training for helpers to begin as soon as I learn it myself!). There is a “confidence monitor” in the back so the pastor, liturgist, reader, or Praise Band can see what they look like when we do stream (which would not give me “confidence” at all!).
There are more Sanctuary changes in store, some of which are still in progress. I just wanted to make sure you avoid the new outlets sticking up out of the floor (which are covered by a construction cone). Also, if the front pew on the right is still there, don’t use it – it’s not bolted down! (what Lutheran would sit in the front row, anyway?)
December’s social concern (aka Cause of the Month) is Marielle’s annual Winter Relief Program (you just saw Marielle confirmed a few weeks ago). We thank you for supporting this effort again! We are collecting items for snack bags and personal care bags, to be distributed by Abode Services in Fremont, which provides care for those without a home. Please consider donating water bottles, small soaps, toothbrushes and toothpaste, granola or protein bars, canned soups with a pop-top lid, fruit or applesauce cups or pouches, and/or white crew socks. We will put the bags together with the Sunday School in early January and bring them to Abode for distribution. Monetary donations will go to support the effort. Thank you!
Next week, December 12,our Sunday School’s Virtual Christmas Pageant will be available to watch online. What creative stuff did Kathleen come up with this year? Watch and find out! There also will be a Council Meeting at 11:30 am by Zoom (I think). Contact Marta if you want to attend.
I’ve been misinforming you about the date for the Living Advent Calendar. It takes place on December 19 (not 12) at Christ the King. This is the event that Tori Valcarcel, our Ministry in Context student (along with CTK) is presenting. Come and show your support! More details will (hopefully) be coming soon.
Christmas Eve there will be two services. One will be at 4 pm with the option of attending inside the sanctuary, or outside (brrr!) on the patio with a monitor and speakers. The second service will be at 8 pm inside the sanctuary only (it will be too dark for outside). Things could change, as always with COVID, but for now them’s the plans. We will be trying to record the Christmas Eve Services for online, so wear your Sunday best! (even though it will be a Friday)
– Keith
your friendly Parish Life Coordinator (i.e. Church Secretary)