Worshipping Together

Letter from Pastor Katy Fast 

March 29, 2020

Hi St. Mark, 

I hope you're well, safe, and finding God's peace in grace-moments of your days and weeks. 

I'll send another update early next week, but wanted to send out a link to our worship video for this week. Worship from home with us by going here: https://youtu.be/v59u4aR2Xc0. Remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel so that you receive automatic updates when things are posted. Make sure you check our our 2 youngest worship leaders, Rhys and Riley, at minute 36 as they lead us in the Lord's Prayer. Thank you R & R! Your prayer is a big blessing to us. :)

Thank you to Beth Kendall for leading music and Anne Harman for cantoring and being assisting minister. A special thanks to Pete Horvath for his awesome video-editing skills! It takes time and knowledge to put this thing together. 

Because of the stay at home orders for our county, look for our worship video for Palm Sunday to be a little more "out in the world" than in the sanctuary. We are being creative and trusting the Spirit as take days one day at a time and plan worship one faithful step at a time. 

A few other notes: 

Offering - the best way to give your tithes or gifts is still via postal mail. Your member envelope has our office address and is easy to simply put a stamp on it and stick it in the mail. We are also looking in to online giving options and will let you know when that is available. Your contributions make a big difference, and we thank you!

Office - Our staff are still working (some remotely/from home), but our office is closed to the public due to the stay at home orders. You can still call the office and leave a message and we will get back to you. Please do call me directly if there is an emergency or you need prayer or support (727-808-4684). I'm easy to reach by phone or text. 

No In-Person Worship/Gatherings until further notice - Following guidelines from the CDC and the Florida-Bahamas Synod, it's saddens me, but we will be suspending worship through the month of April. Empty pew chairs for Easter will be the best sign of the empty tomb this year. As May gets closer, I will update you on if we will be able to worship in person in May. We also will be suspending all meetings, groups and classes through April as well. Council met via ZOOM on Friday and it felt so nice to see each other and be together. I will be looking into other group gathering options via Zoom in the next few weeks. 

You are all in my prayers daily and I do so miss visiting with you in person. :) Stay strong in God's grace, dear people!

Pastor Katy