St. Paul’s Ministries Responding to Covid-19
March 2020
Dear Members and Friends of St. Paul’s,
In the picture below, painted by Jean Francois Millet called,
“The Angelus,” two potato farmers stop their work in order to pray
at the sound of the church bells. In this classic scene, we see a
good model for our lives at this time of pandemic!
Like everything else in our society, St. Paul’s has to modify
our ministry greatly. While this is true, it is very important for
us to “be still and know that I am God…” and to keep trusting in
the Lord for all things. To that end, this correspondence is meant
to inform and update you regarding the functioning of ministry at
this time.
Worship Schedule
St. Paul’s worship must be modified. Though members must remain
in their homes, Pastor Sherrill, Frank and Dr. C will conduct
services at church to be live streamed on our Facebook page.
Service times will be 7:00 p.m. on Wednesdays and 10:00 a.m. on
Sundays until changes are made to the number of people that can
gather in one space. This practice will work as follows.
1. You will receive a phone tree message at the start of the
service, much like the “Angelus Bell” in the picture above! This
will help you stop what you’re doing at home, and worship with your
friends in Christ spread across our community.
2. On the back of this letter and on
Facebook and through e-mail, you will be given the readings,
hymns and propers in order to follow along. If this technology is
not available to you, please use this time to meditate upon the
readings, hymns and propers for the day in your own devotional
setting led by “the head of the house” as Luther would say.
3. In the midst of the service, or at some point during your
devotions, we ask that you would literally mail your offerings and
think about God’s love and our thanks to Him for His loving
provision, even in times of challenge. Offerings are not only a
gift of thanks to God but they also cause the church’s ministry to
function. This is a great time to consider automatic giving through
the Simply Giving process. (A direct withdrawl, we can’t do credit
cards at this time.) A form for this manner of giving is
enclosed.
Please join us for worship in this way! Stop what you are doing,
pray, praise and give thanks to God for His mercy and grace in time
of need.
This is an important time to update your contact information
with the church. If you are not getting phone tree messages or
e-mail alerts that means we don’t have your correct information.
Contact the church office at 712-322-4729 or
[email protected] with updated information. If you are not a
member of St. Paul’s but would like to receive these messages,
please share your information with us as well.
Congregational Ministry
At least through March 31st, Christ Academy, Sunday School,
Organ Recitals, The Citywide Music Festival, Lunch Bunch and all
other normal group events or activities scheduled are cancelled. We
even encourage the cancellation of small meetings. Whatever we can
do to reduce the transfer of germs should be done.
The biggest modification at this time for our music conservatory
is the postponement of the annual Citywide Music Festival. The
rescheduling of Festival will be reevaluated in 4 weeks. Just
today, our conservatory is cancelling all stu-dios meeting at the
church out of respect and safety for our community. While these are
one-on-one interactions, we need to do whatever we can to mitigate
the transfer of germs. However, teachers may have the ability to
continue instructions electronically or by some other creative
means. This can be up to the teachers and families they serve.
The same general principle holds true for Spence Counseling
services at St. Paul’s. We have encouraged them to cancel
one-on-one interactions but use creative means for
communications.
In Thee Is Gladness!
The image of the Good Samaritan of Luke 10 is a good one to keep
in mind at this time. We are so thankful for what Christ has done
for us and made so clear in the Scriptures. How can we show our
love and mercy for oth-ers at this time? First of all, be sensitive
to the needs and concerns of others around you. Next, remain in
com-munication with your friends, neighbors and fellow citizens,
espe-cially if you know some are elderly and in com-promised health
condi-tions. This is a very appropriate time to keep in mind those
who are shut in our elderly in our congregation. Please call them,
ask how they are doing, offer to get groceries or help them in
anyway. At this time, we are called to “put on love” as Paul
writes, “the bond of perfection” that serves our neighbor.
Upcoming Service Information:
Wednesday, March 18th 7:00 p.m. Lenten Service (Continuous
reading of the passion)
Sunday, March 22nd 10:00 a.m. Opening Hymn 556 Sermon Hymn– 743
Closing Hymn– 918 Readings: Isaiah 49:8-13, Galatians 4:21-31, John
6:1-15
Wednesday, March 25th Lenten Service, 7:00p.m. (Continuous
reading of the passion)
Sunday, March 29th 10:00 a.m. Opening Hymn– 431 Sermon Hymn– 438
Closing Hymn– 449 Readings: Genesis 22:1-14, Hebrews 9:11-15, John
8:42-59
Helpful Notes: Please use this guide for readings and hymns to
follow along with our services posted on Facebook. Also, consult
your hymnals or www.sanctus.org which gives all of the propers for
the Sundays of the Church year. This can be a guide to you for
further study and meditation upon God’s Word.
For further reflection, check out the following online formats
for study, worship and growth: KFUO.org– Our synod’s radio station
Issuesetc.org– Lutheran Radio TheWordEndures.org– Bible Study
One of the hardest hit areas of St. Paul’s ministry at this time
is our Early Childhood Center. Everyday, Monday through Friday, we
assist families with the proper care of their children. We care for
nearly 60 children, have around 20 caregivers and constantly have
people coming in and out offering enrichment and other activities
for our children.
Through unprecedented meetings, conversations, dia-logue and
planning, we closed our center at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday the 17th. We
appreciate the consult of many people, especially of State
Representative Mary Ann Hanusa just minutes after the Governor
issued her state of emergency report. Because of this dialogue, we
felt we had strong encouragement and advice as relates to
under-standing all of the information coming from various state and
national departments. As an outgrowth of this meeting, it was
determined to close our center but to pro-vide care for children of
families whose profession is es-sential to the support of our
community during this pan-demic. In our case, this include two
families where the parents are either in the healthcare profession
of police force. The following is the message sent to SPLECC
families just yesterday from our Director, Lisa Preston:
In light of the current COVID-19 situation, and with the goal of
slowing community spread as encour-aged by our local, state and
federal government leaders, St. Paul’s Lutheran Early Childhood
Cen-ter will be following the Governor’s call to close Tuesday,
March 17, at 3:00 p.m. until March 31. SPLECC and St. Paul’s
Lu-theran Church feel this is the best way to be responsible to our
nation, state, and community. The situation will be reassessed on
Thursday, March 26. As many leaders have stated, these are
unprecedented times and unchart-ed territory.
The SPLECC board and church President met at an emer-gency
meeting on Sunday, March 15. The purpose of this meeting was to
discuss plans if/when a closure had to take place. The board
understands that our center is one of the best in town due to our
amazing staff. After a lot of dis-cussion on how to keep the best
staff without collecting tuition, the board made the decision to
have all lead teachers and staff with 1 year or more of service,
that work over 20 hours per week, report 6 hours per day. Once the
center is able to open, it is our hope to con-tinue keeping all of
our amazing staff employed with his/her desired hours. Please pray
that this does not become a long term crisis and for all of those
affected by this vi-rus. Also pray for each other and our community
as each of us is faced with new challenges each day.
May God Bless
Lisa Preston, Director St. Paul’s Lutheran ECC
[email protected] 712.322.3294
Note: The annual observation of National Lutheran
Schools Week, especially the silent auction, will be post-
poned. Please keep our ECC, children, families and staff in
your prayers at this time!
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