March 13, 2020
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Dear Amazing Grace family,
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You no doubt have heard the corona virus news. Let’s call it COVID-19. Corona virus just sounds too close to home. Professional sports, the NCAA, concerts have all called off their events as a precaution. The City of Corona has closed its senior center. The school district has canceled almost every gathering, even classes until April 6th. It can make us feel helpless.
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May I remind you of and encourage you with the words of God through St. Paul in Romans chapter 8:
37 In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Don’t lose hope. Don’t be afraid.
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But I do need to make an announcement followed by a few requests.
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Pastor Taber of the Corona SDA Church called yesterday to tell me that his denomination urged their churches to not meet for public worship in their churches through the end of March and to not permit renters to use their facilities during that time period. Pastor Taber’s congregation will not be meeting in the church building through the end of March and we won’t have access to the facility in that time period either. So starting this Sunday, March 22 and continuing through the end of March, Amazing Grace will not be holding face to face worship at the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
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Instead we will bring to you Sunday worship, although a shorter service, by live streaming on Facebook Live. So here is my request. At 10:00am on Sunday mornings, please go online to our church’s Facebook page and join us for that service. Here is the link https://www.facebook.com/AGLutheranCorona/. Later in the week, I will upload the message to podcast as we normally do so you can access it. Please continue to worship with Amazing Grace in this way. And please be understanding that the services will not be professional quality video. This came upon us suddenly and we don’t normally livestream our worship. However, God’s Word will be proclaimed. Please join us.
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A second request, please. Missing three Sundays of face to face worship will make this COVID-19 challenge a difficult time for our church financially. Please, consider using our digital offering option called tithe.ly either during these three weeks or as the way you normally make your offering. Here is the link https://get.tithe.ly/. If you choose not to do that, please be sure to make up your offerings for the Sundays on which we were not able to meet face to face.
These things are something that we have not experienced in our lifetimes. But our God is heaven and his love for us never ends. If the plans change, I will be sure to notify you. Please check our church website and our Facebook pages regularly. We will share the most recent news there. And please worship with us on Sundays online through Facebook Live.
May God bless you all,
Pastor Rick
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