Friends,

I hope you were able to see our worship broadcast this past Sunday, from the sanctuary of PCLT! It was meaningful for me to ‘lead worship’ in that space, even though all of you were missing. I suspect it was meaningful for you to glimpse it and ‘feel’ yourself there for worship, however virtual that feeling was. We used a new technology to film and broadcast the service; I am confident our virtual worship broadcast will get richer and richer as the weeks progress. By the way, the camera equipment and Vimeo subscription used to record and broadcast our worship was purchased by a Grow Grant from Mission Presbytery, to help small congregations increase outreach to membership and the larger community.Thanks, Mission Presbytery!

I hope you enjoyed hearing Austin Bradley, our new Music Coordinator, as well. It was a joy to have him at the piano and sharing his talents with all of us. I know he longs for the day when he can meet and greet you all in person and experience the musical talents of this congregation. You can reach Austin by email: [email protected].

In the sermon this past weekend, I encouraged you all to “Let yourselves be built into living stones, a holy people, a royal priesthood” (I Peter 2:5, 9). As a way of doing that, let me ask each of you, if you are able, to send me a photo of yourself or whoever you are with during this sequestration, however you look (no makeup or fancy clothes required). I would love to put these photos together into a slide show that we can send out, so we can all be praying for each other and seeing how we, Christ’s living stones, are continuing to be built into a Spiritual house. You can send the photo by email ([email protected]). Or look in your directory, get my cell phone number, and send it to my phone. Next week, I’ll have the slide show ready for the newsletter!

One final note: this idea for centering prayer comes from Martha Lynn, Director of the 787 Collective (of which we are a partner congregation) at Austin Seminary. She writes:
This is a simple and straightforward tool to re-center your body and mind in the midst of a stressful moment. The tool is called box breathing:
-Breathe in for four counts
-Hold breath in for four counts
-Breathe out for four counts
-Keep lungs empty for four counts
If that feels too complicated, simply breathe in for 8 counts, then out for 8 counts on a repetitive cycle for one to two minutes at a time.
Consider praying a mantra on your breath cycle. Here are some ideas: 
-Healthy Family Back Together 
-Every Day is Full of Wonder
-Hope and Joy are New Each Morning
-Watching Love Grow All Around Me

Thanks, Martha Lynn, for the suggestion!

Peace be with you all this week,

Pastor Jack