So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my victorious right hand. -Isaiah 41:10

Dear Siblings in Christ,

Greetings! We hope this eblast finds you safe and staying healthy.

We find ourselves in new territory both as individuals and as a church community. We are thankful that as we journey this new territory we are never alone. No matter how fearful we may be, no matter how overwhelmed or anxious we might feel, God is here with us.

Session has decided to cease all in-person worship services, classes and meetings through April 5. What will this mean for our life as a community:

Our worship life: We won’t be worshipping in person with one another through April 5. Hopefully we can come back together during Holy Week and celebrate a joyous Easter in person. Time will tell. In the meantime, though, we will be live-streaming our altered worship service on Sunday mornings at 10:00am. Dwight Cheu and Tim O’Toole are working on the technical part of this adventure while we’re working on the liturgy and Michael and Trevor the music. We’ll send out details later in the week but mark your calendars now! Sundays at10am!

Please contact us with any prayer requests so these can go out in the eblast as well.

Our communal life: This is definitely new territory and here are preliminary some suggestions:

• Stay in touch with each other via phone, email, text, wave as you pass by a home or someone out walking.
• The church has purchased a Zoom account so if groups want to meet together on line, contact us, and we can set this up. This isn’t just for organized groups like committees and small groups, but for people who decide they want to meet with a few others for conversation. Just let us know date and time. We’ll set it up and send you the invite that has clear instructions about how to join the Zoom meeting.
• We also want to coordinate activities to help each other out.
  • • If you need someone to pick up items at a store and deliver them to you.
  • • Do you need a suggestion for a really good book to read?
  • • Do you need some assistance with how to listen to a podcast?
  • • Do you need food?
  • • Do you need assistance with a bill?
  • • Other need?

Let us know: 518-449-7332 or mleupold@firstpresalbany.org; gleupold@firstpresalbany.org; info@firstpresalbany.org.

• We want to be able to help people help others, so if there’s some service you’d like to offer, let us know.
• We are setting up a Facebook group that will offer a number of intergenerational suggestions gleaned from various places (like setting up with a parent a time to call a child in the congregation to listen to them practice their instrument or perhaps you could read to them or they to you). You’ll be invited to join the group, so if you’re not a FB friend of Glenn’s and/or Miriam’s, request that now.If you’re not on Facebook but are interested, let us know.

Our educational life: While we won’t be joining together on Sunday morning for the various education classes, we have some suggestions of alternatives.

• This Lent we’ve been preaching on the 4 gospels and their representations of Jesus.This Sunday we’ll be looking at Luke’s gospel. You could spend time this week reading The Gospel of Luke (or at least chapter 4).
• The Anti-Racism Task Force put together an extensive bibliography which offers lots of options.
• Illustrated Ministry – You can sign up to get resources for ALL AGES sent to you each week. https://www.illustratedministry.com/flattenthecurve [Note: Anyone who signs up on this link will NOT BE ADDED to Illustrated Ministry’s regular email list, and once they stop offering this service, they will DELETE all of the email addresses.]
• For a helpful podcast for families on how to talk about COVID-19, we recommend the podcast episode, “Coronavirus For Kids, And The Science Of Soap.” You can listen to it here.

Our life beyond our community:

• Continue to check in/connect safely with your neighbors.
• Pray for people – those you know and those you don’t.
• Be kind to those around you.
• Be kind to yourself and remember you are a child of God.

If you’re aware that someone isn’t getting this eblast that should, please pass along the contact information to Jamie (info@firstpresalbany.org). Also, Jamie has just finished an updated version of the directory. If you’d like a copy, let her know.

Faithfully journeying with you into new territory,
Miriam and Glenn

Contact info: 518-449-7332 or mleupold@firstpresalbany.org; gleupold@firstpresalbany.org; info@firstpresalbany.org.