Pastor's Blog

Friends,

 

We have a very special worship experience planned for this coming Sunday, September 5^th – a Labor Day worship service titled “A Year of Music and Worship.” Austin Bradley has selected 14 musical pieces from the last 18 months of our online worship services. These selections include the guest vocal soloists and instrumentalists who have shared their gifts in worship during these months. The selections also feature our own talented musicians, vocalists and instrumentalists, who regularly offer their gifts to enrich our worship. These songs and instrumental pieces are interspersed with prayers and readings selected from scripture for this occasion to create a new and meaningful worship service.

 

As you view our Labor Day Concert and Worship, I hope that you are moved again by the beautiful music and the powerful words of scripture. I also hope that you celebrate the gift of worship and music we have been able to experience online even in the midst of a global pandemic, sequestration, and the shuttering of the sanctuary doors for most of the past 18 months. Even now, God is still good. Even online, we can still gather for worship. Even separated by distance, in our households, we still experience the joy of amazing music that lifts us into the presence of God, and we still hear the ancient words of scripture that become new again and guide us in our life together and on our individual journeys.

 

This special Labor Day Concert and worship service will be available online on Sunday morning by 11:00 a.m., in the usual ways – on our website (pclt.faith/webcast) , and on our Facebook page. I encourage you to send a link to your family, your neighbors, your friends. Invite them to experience more than a year’s worth of amazing and inspiring music. Invite them to glimpse one of the unique ministries our congregation offers. Invite them to be filled with joy – if only for an hour, if only online.

 

Peace,

 

Pastor Jack

 

 

 

 

Friends,

 

As I have watched school districts all across the country begin their academic year, I have been thinking a lot again about COVID-time protocols and how our congregation embodies our faithfulness toward God and others in the decisions we make around in-person gatherings. We are called to love our neighbors as ourselves; and so, even if we are vaccinated, we wear masks and refrain from gathering, not always to protect ourselves but to protect others who are more vulnerable and those who are unable to be vaccinated, especially the children and grandchildren we all love. We are called, by the Golden Rule, to behave toward others as we would have them behave toward us; and so we honor the health and safety of others as we hope they will honor our health and safety. In the passage from the letter from James (which we will hear during worship on Sunday) we are encouraged to be hearers AND doers of the Word of God. We gather (even online) to hear the Word of God and the ways in which God’s Word encourages us to love and care for all people. And then, we strive to be DOERS of God’s Word. The same is true for our communal life; it is not enough to know the science and hear the recommendations of medical authorities; we have to take action and do what is recommended.

 

I know we are worn out and worn down by all of this. I know we all long to gather in person again in the sanctuary and lift our voices in prayer and song. But we know more now about the ways in which the SARS CoV-2 virus can spread, even carried and transmitted by fully vaccinated individuals. So, until more people in our greater community are vaccinated, and more are protected from serious illness and hospitalization, we will stick to our current practices and protocols.

 

I hope to be able to see you all soon in person, but until then, I’ll look forward to worshipping with you online.

 

Peace,

Pastor Jack

 

 

 

 

Friends,

 

I have been thinking a lot this week about the existence of evil in our world – or more specifically, all of the things that happen that feel evil or bad to us, things we wish would never happen. Presbyterians don’t often talk about evil forces or the demonic presence in our world, but sometimes I think we should! The passage from Ephesians 6:10-17 that I will be preaching from this Sunday lends itself to this kind of reflection.

 

The people of Haiti are on my heart and on my mind right now. That country has experienced the assassination of their President, a major earthquake that has killed upwards of 2,000 people, and several tropical storms. It seems like the people of Haiti just keep getting attacked by evil forces.

 

And the people of Afghanistan are on my heart and on my mind as well. Seeing the news reports from the airport in Kabul bring back memories of news reels from Vietnam as American troops finally left that country after a long military presence. And it breaks my heart to hear the stories of girls and women in Afghanistan who now fear the loss of opportunities for education and meaningful engagement with the world and even fear for their lives.

 

Also on my heart and on my mind are the school children and their parents in Texas and Tennessee and Florida who are left without the simple protection of mask mandates to shield them from the Delta variant of the coronavirus. The freedom to attend school maskless seems like a small freedom to sacrifice to protect children and school employees from contracting and spreading a preventable illness. And our lawsuits and state-wide threats and political maneuverings around mask mandates and personal freedoms seems frivolous and inconsequential when compared with the freedoms that the people of Haiti and Afghanistan have lost in recent weeks.

 

Please pray for the people of Haiti and Afghanistan. Please pray for school children, their parents, their teachers and administrators, their bus drivers, their lunch workers, and all who work in public education.

 

Peace,

 

Pastor Jack

 

 

 

Friends,

 

Last month PCLT received a gift from the estate of Ada McElhenney.  Some of you may have known Ada, although many of you didn’t.  I met her only once or twice when she visited our Sunday morning worship (back before COVID).  She was not a member of PCLT; she was a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Austin.  But she had a fondness for her friends who worshipped at PCLT and she appreciated the way she was welcomed whenever she visited.  When she died, she left an estate bequest to PCLT in honor of Revs. Chuck and Laura Mendenhall.  In a thank you letter to her daughter, I wrote, “Laura and Chuck Mendenhall were important pastors here during a crucial time for this congregation and their impact continues to this day.  Please know that this gift will serve to continue their legacy of congregational nurture and community outreach here at the Presbyterian Church of Lake Travis.”

 

I give thanks to God for faithful saints like Ada McElhenney and Rev. Laura Mendenhall and Rev. Chuck Mendenhall, and all the saints who welcomed them into the PCLT family.  And I am blessed to be part of this family and to call PCLT my spiritual home!

 

Peace,

Pastor Jack

 

 

 

Friends,

 

As many of you already know, Debi Bankhead, our beloved Church Office Administrator, is moving to Denison, Texas. She will be closer to her aging mother and other members of her family. Her last day in the PCLT office will be Thursday, August 12.

 

Over the past 15 months, Debi has learned (like the rest of us) that much of her job as church administrator can be performed remotely! So, while she is relocating to North Texas, she will continue to serve as our church administrator. She will be on vacation the week of August 16-20 to complete her physical relocation, but she will be back on the job on August 23. Some of her tasks cannot be performed remotely, and we will be asking for volunteers to help with those on a regular basis, once this latest round of COVID restrictions allows us to be present again in the church building.

 

You will still be able to reach Debi by email ([email protected]). She will continue to be responsible for the newsletter, directory, bulletin composition, database updates, website updates, ordering curriculum and supplies, and other things for which we all have come to rely on her to manage so efficiently. And, since she has children and grandchildren in Central Texas, I am sure she will make an appearance in our neighborhood from time to time!

 

Debi, we are happy you can remain connected to us through the miracle of remote working technology. May you go to your new home with God’s blessings along your way.

 

Peace,

Pastor Jack

 

 

 

Friends,

 

I am so disappointed to be writing this column. Just two months ago I was writing with joy to let you know our plan for re-gathering for in-person worship. But COVID is winning again. The 7 Day rolling average of new hospitalizations in Travis County today is 45 – just slightly below the threshold for Stage 5 Risk protocols (50 and up), the highest danger alert possible! If the numbers continue the direction they have been going for the past week, we should cross that threshold by Sunday!

 

That being said, we will return to online-only worship for the foreseeable future, beginning immediately with worship on Sunday, August 1. Your Session met and determined that this is the wisest course of action for now. Worship services will be recorded on Sunday morning and posted by 5 p.m. on Sunday evening. Only the 3-5 people necessary to lead worship and record it will be present in the sanctuary.

 

We are aware that CDC guidelines permit indoor gatherings with everyone masked and social distanced. But until we can safely gather, without significant risk to anyone, we will gather online. Our concern is not only for the members of our congregation, but also for our neighbors and our community, even those who are not vaccinated. We do not want to contribute to the spread of this disease in any way that might put someone in harm’s way, even if it by their own choice. Because we are a Christian community, led by love of neighbor as much as love of self, our responsibility to protect others outweighs our personal freedom to gather as vaccinated individuals.

 

If and when the numbers of new cases and hospitalization turn around, we will reconsider this course of action. Session continues to monitor all guidance from Austin Public Health, Travis County officials, and the CDC. A return to Stage 3 (fewer than 30 new hospitalizations per day) and a trend downward toward Stage 2 (fewer than 15) will be our indication that it is safe to return to indoor worship gatherings. Until then, please wear your mask in public, keep your distance from others, and I’ll see you online for worship!

 

Peace,

 

Pastor Jack