Merry Christmas, Everybody:
It’s Christmas Eve! We will be having two services this evening, both with candle lighting. Please wear masks and distance yourselves as much as possible. We will have our air scrubber and fans going, as well as some windows in the back open for ventilation. And if you have any symptoms whatsoever, please stay home (COVID is not the gift you want to give everyone this Christmas!). There will be communion at both services with individually packaged communion elements. The early service is at 4 pm with the option to be outside on the patio, in case you are not ready to meet indoors (with a TV screen to watch – weather permitting). The late service is at 8 pm, indoors only, and includes a masked choir (you can assume it’s ours). We will be recording the services and hope to have them posted on our YouTube channel within a couple of hours (internet permitting) so those at home can have a Christmas Eve worship experience as well. As long as you don’t sit in the first three rows, you won’t be visible on the recording (except maybe the back of your head from far away in a dark room during candle lighting). I’ll send out links to the videos when they are ready to view.
This Sunday, December 26, is the 1st Sunday of Christmas and we will be having a 10 am Service of Poems and Carols (Christmas season starts Christmas Day and lasts for 12 days – you know, like in the carol [which, thankfully, we won’t be singing!]) Same safety precautions as usual. It’s also Lutheran Loose Change Sunday. There will be no Sunday School until January 9, 2022, but I assume we’ll still be having Zoom Coffee Chat and Communion. Check Sunday’s email to be sure. As will be our norm (for now) we will post a recording of the live service online within a few hours. You will also have the option of watching an online service from the Sierra Pacific Synod this Sunday. The link will be in Sunday’s email.
Office Hours will be, shall we say, flexible this coming week. Be sure to call the office before dropping by to make sure the person you want to see is there, or the building you want to get into is get-into-able.
If you have something for the Community Announcements during services, please let Pastor Tim know the details beforehand so he can do the announcement for you. He’s got his own microphone, so people will be able to hear the announcements, and we can avoid people lining up too close and speaking into a communal microphone (and being on camera if they don’t want to). Maybe write the info down on a note so PT doesn’t have to rely on his memory (just sayin’). And, of course, read your inserts and your emails (like this one you’re reading right now! You are still there, aren’t you? Hello?).
Have a great Christmas everyone! See you tonight!
– Keith
your friendly Parish Life Coordinator (i.e. Church Secretary)
