Dear Friends in Christ,
Greetings to you on this sunny Monday!
I pray that you all are healthy and well. 

Please hold these folks in your prayers:
Dorothy Randals (room 110 of Trigg Hospital)  It's a beautiful day to talk to her through her hospital window.  Just call first 461-7000
Ruth Johnson
Healthcare workers and their families
Teachers and their families
Education and Healthcare institutions
Those doing research for the Public Health
Teresa Gallegos
Our church, still trying to navigate God's world in these times
Our country
Pat Sieglen
Sharon Huffman
Those who are grieving 
Those discerning God's Word
The ill, the isolated and those suffering mental illness
Julie Sursa's mom, in her final stages, and Julie's whole family
Those struggling with intense anxiety
Dominique

This week we continue to keep church activities on hold until the Session can meet and discuss these matters.  We will not be having our Annual Meeting either until I am able to return to the church.

Friends, please accept my apology for how the Lord's Day went yesterday.  I hope that you found something meaningful in my sermon.  (attached here again) Due to limitations in our website, I am not able to attach the recorded version here. You are invited to visit our old MS Sway website to listen.

I am working on a few ideas for how to handle worship for this Sunday, January 31.  I am open to suggestions.

May the Lord bless you and keep you today.  Stay well and stay connected to each other.
Blessings to you,
Rev. Amy

Dear Siblings in Jesus Christ,
Greetings!  Hope that you enjoyed the beautiful snow and all of its muddiness!

I have been freed from isolation and by now, many of you are also - if you were exposed - probably almost free.  I plan on worship this Sunday and am ready to get to it!  

This means, I hope that our Elders are able to meet very soon, preferably this Sunday after church, for a session meeting, as we prepare for the Congregational Meeting.  Elders, please get your reports to Sharon ([email protected]).  If you need help, just get them to me one way or another and she and I will assemble them together.  

Ministry to the Isolated:  Being in isolation with COVID has been a way to find out the difficulty of living life, getting the things you need.  I really appreciate you those of you who offered to get us groceries, who helped with special deliveries of chile stew and much much more.  You show me that we can minister to others who are having to be isolated with illness and to do it in a way that is safe.  We could do such a thing on a small scale, if you know anyone else who is in a similar position.  Our Mission Funds can help.  

Prayers and Updates
Dorothy Randals can have visitors at the hospital - staying in a swing bed at Trigg for about 21 days, as she recuperates from her injuries.  You can call the nurses station and they will bring her to her hospital room window to visit with you.  She needs our prayers for pain and just the angst of having to be hospitalized. 
Teresa Gallegos-Brake - leg pain, procedure to clear blockage
Susie Martinez- thankful for new home, but still looking for affordable transportation
Healthcare workers, teachers, first responders all who are trying to protect their families from illness
Hospitals around the world
Students and their families
Thanksgiving for good neighbors
Travelers
Betty Ragan and her daughter-in-law, Heather Hoefer as they griev
Places of turmoil, particularly on our own soil right now
Ruth Johnson 
Those who are isolated and/or depressed
For our Church, going through changes, preparing for the Annual Meeting

Who and what have I omitted?  Please let me know what other prayers you have to add.  

January 3rd was Baptism of our Lord Sunday, the Sunday when we recall Jesus' own baptism in the River Jordan, when his cousin, John wondered whether Jesus should have baptizing him instead!  It could cause us to recall what baptism might mean to you and me.  Because, after Jesus was baptized, he was sent into the world to heal and help the needy and to preach the Gospel whereever he went.  What does your baptism mean to you?   I would like to share a versionn of "Down to the River," recorded on YouTube with a virtual choir.  Check it out here:  https://youtu.be/BumCkswUUDA

Church Bulletins:  Friends, this new year, our church will be doing more recycling of church bulletins.  In an effort to exercise good stewardship of funds, we have cancelled our church bulletin subscription.  We have MOUNDS of old, blank ones, for they would send us 50/Sunday.  You know that's a lot of excess. So, we are doing to recycle some of them because they are pretty to look at. If you are interested in designing a bulletin cover for us for any particular church service day (like Palm Sunday, etc.), please let me know and I can give give you a list of those special church days.

Friends, please be safe and well today.  May the Lord bless you and keep you, make His face to shine on you and be gracious unto you, and give you peace.  Amen.

Love,
Rev. Amy

The Lord be with you all and a Happy New Year!

Hope that you have all weathered the past week and your New Year's celebrations.  Ours was pretty quiet around here, as we recuperate from illness.  I have received numerous reports from you today that you are COVID-negative!  I am so glad to hear that.  I will be in discussions with our elders, likely tomorrow, as I try to observe a Sabbath on Mondays, as we discuss reopening the church.   We have been ordered a 2-week quarantine, which appears to span two Sundays in a row.  This may figure into our decision making, unless a preacher rises up through the ranks to take on this Sunday! 

Thank you to the Randals and to Daniel Zamora for your help sanitizing the  church buildings (sanctuary, offices, Fellowship Hall, etc.).  Thank you also for those who have brought us food (homemade as well as groceries!). 

As for me, I am feeling improved, although there are still some symptoms.  Here are some of my symptoms:  loss of smell and appetite, shortness of breath, lots of dry coughing, as well as typical cold stuff.  We also had some fever.  If you experience any of these symptoms, please consider getting tested just to be careful.

Prayer requests:
Dorothy Randals, hospitalized in Amarillo Rm 721 Northwest Hospital. Fractured arm from a fall Saturday evening.  Please pray she heals up and comes home!
Thanksgiving for Susie's new apartment
Teresa Gallegos-Brake -awaiting treatment for blockage in leg veins
Thanksgiving for so many COVID-negative tests for our church family, and for those who are trying to help out!
Thanksgiving for a new year and new hopes!
Prayers for RAIN
For those entering the new year with grief in their hearts
Those serving in the armed forces
Healthcare workers, teachers, first responders and their families
The start of the Spring Semester for all students and families
Persons who are depressed or struggling with other emotional problems
Those who feel isolated
Our community and leaders
Hospitals that are struggling to find room for their patients

Friends, what prayer request do you have this week?  What do we need to add to our prayer list for the next church bulletin?  

Do you remember the song, "They'll Know We are Christians by our Love?"  Here is a 2020 version of it.  I hope that it's meaningful to you.  https://youtu.be/yrvPSE0Ih3s

I will be getting the word to all of you through our prayer grapevine/prayer tree, once we know for certain when we will resume worship.  Please love and serve the Lord from wherever you are and wherever He has sent you.  God bless you and keep you.  
Rev. Amy