Thank You For Giving To The Lord

THANK YOU FOR GIVING TO THE LORD

Dear brothers and sisters, I am always amazed at your generosity as I see how faithfully you support our church along with local missions.  We will hopefully one day soon be able to return to worship together and continue the work of Christ as His people.  In the meantime, we can still be the church as we continue to pray and communicate with one another and reach out in various ways to our church family and to our neighbours.  As places are allowed to open up, we take notice that it comes with safety measures.  As our premier says, we will be returning to open things up but a time line is still unpredictable as we still need to be diligent in order to stop the spread of the coronavirus. 

 I know gatherings of people, like church congregations, may be still a ways off but I think its ok to begin thinking about what our "new normal" will look like as we make preparations for re-opening our church.  

I am certain that we will need to make adjustments to keep people safe.  It may need to begin with  out-door worship services where we have lots of space to safely distance ourselves.  We may need to video tape services so people who are not comfortable or able to be with us can also enjoy worship.  Maybe we need to look at our sanctuary to see how we can limit physical distancing or to not use bulletins/hymn books/bibles.   Of course, we will only begin to look at all of this when we are given the green light to proceed by our health and government officials.

I'd like to give a big SHOUT OUT to a few people who have been continuing to do the necessary duties around the church.  So thank you Janice for all the work of communicating to our church family and friends; thank you Karen and Nick for maintaining our parking lot and driveway;  and thank you to Gord and Brenda for grass cutting and looking after our financial matters.  

I am so grateful for every one of you within our church family.....for giving to the Lord.  You never know how your Christian love and generosity is encouraging another life.  I am reminded of all those who have been instrumental in helping me in my life and faith.  As we approach Mother's day, I can think of so many wonderful women who have influenced me over my life with their strong faith and unconditional love.   As you think of moms and those women in your life who have been so important to you, I invite you to send me a photo via my email address of either your mother or another woman of influence that we can celebrate with you and give God thanks for them and so many others during this Sunday's Mother's day video.

As I close I think of a song that we have sang at special occasions over the years.  It sums up this message as I thank all of you for your faith and your service to the Lord.  The chorus is below but I wish I could have been able to attach the whole song as Janice has recorded it.... but maybe we can one again experience it live when we are all together again.  Until then... God bless you!

Thank you for giving to the Lord

  I am a life that was changed

  Thank you for giving to the Lord

  I am so glad you gave