Friday, May 1

Good morning church!

First a big thank-you for your faithfulness, care and concern for others. Every Friday we collect food for Manna on Main Street to help those in our community who are struggling to pay their bills and have enough to eat. As you know, unemployment has increased to numbers we haven’t seen in a long time, and the local food banks have seen quadrupled demand. We will collect food items again today between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.  Thank heavens, the skies seem to be all rained out (for now!) and you can place your bags on Lisa’s pickup truck, backseat or loading flat. Lisa says that your response on Fridays has been amazing! I am actually in conversation with folks from St. Rose of Lima and potentially other local congregations for a community-wide food donation day. I asked George Peterman, one of the Social Ministry leaders at St. Rose, whether we could do it on a Friday in May. The idea (which came from our friends at St. Rose) is that we not only ask people in our respective congregations to contribute but also our neighbors and friends. People of Faith are always among the most charitable givers (I don’t make this up, it’s based on actual data!), but I think there are many more people in our respective communities who can help and are willing to help. Stay tuned, I should have more details by next week. 

What I know already is this: your giving in April was amazing, allowing us to make up for the deficit we had in late March when we first had to adjust to closed church buildings and virtual services. Thank you for allowing us to close that gap, do ministry, and support our hard-working staff!  What I also know is this: this coming Sunday our church will participate in a community-wide ringing of the bells in honor of all first responders and medical workers on the frontlines of the pandemic. The bells will be ringing at 7:00 p.m., and as I understand it, not only in North Wales but also in adjacent communities such as Lansdale, Ambler, etc. If you have a key to the church and you know how to “work the ropes” (literally!) of our antique church bell, and you would like to ring it at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday night, please let me know. Otherwise, I will be happy to do it.

I am missing you! Pre-recording services and speaking a message into a camera is not the same as being engaged in a live worship service, seeing faces, seeing reactions, feeling the atmosphere… A number of churches use a live zoom format, which allows for more interaction but is also vulnerable to pranksters.  The Church of the Brethren uses the format, and they had to shut down three intruders last Sunday. Fortunately, Pastor Enten is very technology savvy and the church was ready to take action. Our practice of pre-recording and posting allows us to be free of such interference. But: I am missing you! So, for this Sunday I would like to invite you to join me in a Zoom Gathering at 11:00 a.m.  Have your coffee and your snacks ready. We will spend some time together and I have a few things I want to talk to you about. I will share my thoughts about including a virtual Holy Communion the following Sunday (May 10) and how that will work. I will also share some of our thoughts regarding re-opening the church building in a few weeks. I hope you can join us. Please contact the church for links.        

For the upcoming weeks, I would like to introduce you to the experiences of our college students who are, almost all of them, studying and staying at home during this time instead of being on campus.  I will reach out to them and ask them to share some of their experiences. Isn’t it fascinating that, while we are “socially distanced” (do you hate that word by now?), we can actually get to know one another more than before? That’s why I am adding in portraits of our homebound members and soon also of our confirmation students and college students. I have one college student at home. Sarah was happily living the college life in her second semester at Kenyon College in Ohio when she came home for spring break and never went back because by mid-March the college switched to on-line lessons. She is missing her friends and has been talking to them, writing to them.  Of course, it’s nice for us to have her home… Meanwhile, she has taught herself how to play the guitar and has been busy singing and writing songs. She very much hopes she can go back to college in September. You know, it’s not THAT cool to be home!

Today, I invite you to pray with me for our parishioners and the other residents at Springhouse Estate.  I mentioned to you that Louis G. was diagnosed with COVID 19. She had only mild symptoms and has since recovered. The prolonged time of isolation, however, has had a toll on her health and wellbeing. Already pretty fragile and dealing with a chronic bone marrow disease, her family is now transferring her to Hospice Care as per doctor’s recommendation. Lois is 87 years old. She has lived a long and interesting life.  And under normal circumstances, I would feel that this is a necessary step not to be afraid of. But hospice without visits from your family? Without prayers from your pastor? Hospice in isolation? I feel very badly about that. I have another friend whom I visit frequently at the same building at Spring House Estates. His name is Albert K., and he grew up in my former parish, Tabor Lutheran in Philadelphia. Albert has Parkinson’s disease and he too was recently diagnosed with COVID 19. So far he has been a-symptomatic and is doing well.  Please pray for Lois, Albert, and all the people working at the Skilled Nursing Care facility at Springhouse Estate. It has to be tough, and I wish I could go and see them.

Last but not least:  Today is Jennifer M.’s birthday. Happy birthday, Jenn!

And:  we are planning some very special acknowledgments for our graduates this year, who are in many ways cheated out of their graduation experience…

More about that in tomorrow’s email! And keep sending those pictures of your moms…

Be safe and be well! Pastor Andreas Wagner