Dear Church,
After a prayerful and thoughtful exchange of phone calls, texts and email messages, our board of directors have voted to shut down the fellowship hall, chalice closet and sanctuary until Easter.
Suggestions for your personal devotions on Sunday mornings:
1) Still set aside the 11 o’clock hour for prayer and Bible reading.
2) I will still compose a sermon each week and send it out on Saturday evenings along with the lectionary readings.
3) It will be a good time to try the donate button on the church website for offering.
4) With bread and juice, lift them up to God and to the relationships we cherish and commune in spirit and/or share with your household.
5) I hope to send some links for DOC churches that are live streaming a service on Sunday mornings.
One final use of the sanctuary prior to Easter will be a Celebration of Life for Charlie Bestor. If you are over 60, which is most of us, you are advised not to attend. This service will be for visiting family and close friends. And, that group will practice social distancing – no hugging – which Carole understands. And, as you know, she is a serious hugger. J
There will be a graveside service for Charlie later in the week – perhaps Tuesday or Wednesday at the El Carmelo Cemetery (but if you come to that, be sure to bring an umbrella).
I’m hoping that we will have a bigger celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and Charlie Bestor’s part of that story sometime after Easter.
You can still send flowers to the church for the 3 PM memorial service.
You can send a card to Carole Bestor and Lauren Pond at 244 Walnut St. Pacific Grove, CA 93950
Memorial contributions should be made to Christian Church of Pacific Grove.
I continue to be on call for pastoral concerns. Actually, I think I have received more phone calls today from members of the church than any day in the past 20 years. It has been interesting and strangely nice.
Let us pray for all who have been affected by the COVID-19 including Dawn Wilson’s father-in-law and my former employee Rick St. John. Let us pray for wisdom that comes from repentance. One of my theology professors explained that most of us operate on know-how in a horizontal manner, but when crisis happens, we stop and our way of being moves vertically… deeper. I am confident that our beloved community will find creative ways to reach out to one another and comfort one another even though we aren’t in physical closeness. Thanks be to God for the ease in which we can communicate and uplift one another in these challenging days. This may be a time where we deepen our collective spirituality – may it be so.
One more note: The reason there was so much mistrust in clergy during the Reformation is that so many priests survived the plague – which meant they weren’t with the sick and dying. Reuben and I both talked today that we will use precautions, but we will be with anyone who need pastoral care at our own risk.
Go in Peace. Serve the LORD.
Pastor Dan Paul
