EDIT (3/25/2020): The Lenten Book Group hosted by Rev. Faux on Thursdays is cancelled both for in-person and teleconference meetings.

Dear Friends: Let me assure all of you that First Congo Essex Junction will continue to be active in the lives of her members and the wider community as we live into Christ’s demand to love each other and our neighbors.   However, given the health and safety issues of the Corona outbreak, we will be doing church differently seeking both to keep our people safe by encouraging them to stay home  AND  remain a loving community of faith given that we are not together in one place.

To keep our people safe, we will be asking all groups to honor the Vermont Department of Health’s guidelines for group meetings and limit and or cease meeting in our space.  This means that the following groups will either no longer be physically meeting until the authorities tell us it’s safe to meet or for very small groups to practice safe distancing and cleaning measures.  All groups, even smaller groups, are encouraged to continue meeting via Zoom or Facebook.  The following groups are cancelling or limiting their time together

• Sunday Morning Worship
• Saturday Afternoon Worship
• Faith Formation Program
• Saturday Nepali Worship
• All official Church Committee Meetings
• Face to Face Pastoral Visits
• Essex Eats Out
• All Scouting Groups
• Women’s Spirituality
• Jonah’s Yoga Group
• Book Group
• Bridge Group
• Sermon Talk Back
• Friday Morning Coffee Clatter
• Just Older Youth [JOY] Group
• Junior and Senior High Youth
• Thrift Shop
• Ron Faux’s “You are Blessed” Book Group
• Josh Simon’s Monday Night Spirituality Group
• Sanctuary Choir Practice
• Currier Bell Choir
• Men @ First and Heavenly Harmony Musical Groups
• Knitting and Card Making Groups
• Outside Groups that Use Our Space

As you can see, our church has quite a few groups that meet and interact on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.  Many of our church committees and interactive groups will continue to meet in various ways and our many ministries will remain active but in ways that allows for safety.  The alternatives include

• Sunday Morning Worship: streamed via Facebook at 9:30 a.m. each Sunday morning
  • Go to our Website or our Facebook page and click on the tab.
  • Or on FM 104.1 on your FM Radio from the parking lot of the church
    • This is for folks w/o computers, like the old drive in theaters
  • Be interactive with Rev. Mark’s phone through texting [802 922-1773]
    • Allows for prayer requests, children’s message responses, and things for which we are grateful
• Saturday Afternoon Worship: Zoom Each Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
  • Interactive Worship: Zoom ID# 403 773 331
• Faith Formation Program: Laurie will send electronic and snail mail packets
• All official Church Committee Meetings: meet via Zoom, Skype or e-mail
  • Meeting Zoom ID# TBD. Contact relevant committee chair for details.
• Face to Face Pastoral Visits: Replaced w/ Phone calls, emails, texts and personal walks upon request [call church office]
• Jonah’s Yoga Group: Continues via streaming
  •  Meeting Zoom https://smcvt.zoom.us/j/9484805110
• Sermon Talk Back: Continues via Zoom every Tuesday at 8:30 a.m.
  • Meeting Zoom ID# 740 803 865
• Junior Youth: Josh and Laurie will gather them electronically weekly
• Senior Youth: Josh will gather them electronically weekly
• Josh Simon’s Monday Night Solidarity Group: via Zoom. Meets @ 7pm.
  • Meeting Zoom http://zoom.us/j/910565449
• Food Pantry will continue but bring food out to the cars in parking lot
• Sanctuary Choir: Carol will engage electronically w/ cool software

With so much face to face interactions being impossible, the church staff and volunteers will be reaching out to our members in different ways to check up on them but also to continue to maintain the strong bonds that unite us as a community of faith.  So, the following actions will be occurring:

• Daily Devotionals: every weekday morning at 8:00 a.m. and again every evening at 8:00 p.m. we will post a brief devotional with a scripture, thought for the day and prayers.  Have a candle ready to light to set the stage at home.  Rev. Mendes will start the day and Rev. Josh will end the day, but you will be able to access the messages any time during the day via Facebook: just click on the video post.

• Daily Lunch Break: via Zoom every weekday at 12 noon 
  • Have lunch with your church friends and just catch up with other church folks
  • No planned topics of discussion just whatever people want to talk about
  • Zoom Meeting ID# 954 072 355

• Deacons will call every member and friend every ten days or so just to check in
  • and see if there are any needs the church can help with

• Resourcing Our Seniors: many of our members are older and or are in an “at risk” category of folks that are particularly susceptible to the corona virus so we encourage them to stay home and let younger members of the church get their groceries or pharmacy medications and drop them off at their front door.  If you are older and need this assistance or are younger and can help with this assistance, please let us know at the church office [802 878-5745].  Or call Rev. Mark at 802 922-1773 or Rev. Josh at 920 858-6601.

• Faith Formation/Youth: Laurie will be sending via electronic communication activities that parents can print out and use to help them with their faith development during the break as well as asking if they would like care packages sent to our kids every so often reminding them that they are remembered and loved by the church.  Josh will similarly be reaching out to our youth.

• Our Food Pantry will remain operational for the time being but the way we operate will be completely different, again to protect both volunteers and clients and to continue fulfilling Christ’s call to feed those who are hungry.  During this time of isolation and financial concern, we all feel as if this vital aspect of First Church’s ministry should continue unabated.  We strongly encourage our older Food Pantry volunteers to stay home and ask those of you not at risk who can fill their spots to let us know at the church office [802 878-5745].  For the next distribution, no clients will be allowed in the building, but we will be delivering food to their cars. We need volunteers for next Thursday, March 26th Food Pantry. Most of our usual volunteers are in the high risk category. We will accept volunteers as young as 16 years old. We are taking every precaution to keep those who volunteer safe. We have multiple shifts 9 am-12:30 pm for setup, 1-4 pm for distribution, 4-7 pm for distribution and clean up. Contact Pastor Josh if you can help.

• Zoom and Facebook Technology  In this day when we are physically isolated we are all being challenged to stay connected with new ways of communicating and meeting.  One way is through Facebook which is a social media group you can join that allows you to communicate with those you love with pictures, videos and simple typed messages.  This is how many folks keep in touch with folks throughout the world.  It is free to join.  Zoom is another means to communicate where you become a member of Zoom, which allows you to join in a conversation live where folks are live and on camera.  Each conversation has a numbered code to type in so that you get the right conversation.  If you do not have a computer, you can also use a phone and give the Zoom operator the same numbered code and then you will be a part of the conversation without the picture.  Josh has typed up detailed instructions available here.  If you need extra help, call Josh [920 858-6601] or Doug [802 878-5745] for assistance. 

These are unsettling times, but the church will continue to reach out to all of you to offer spiritual solace, practical help and a sense of calm in the midst of the storm.  We will do everything we can to keep our strong family of faith not only intact but stronger than ever.  As we all spend more time at home, let us relish the time with our family, read more, reflect and pray more and get outside to walk more.  Let us use this time to call your friends and or people from the church just to chat and see how they are doing……maybe even to introduce yourself to someone from the church you do not know!  Jesus’ message of new life guides us to be hopeful and optimistic: to find positives in the midst of difficult times, to be calm in the midst of the storm, to be strengthened in the midst of weakening experiences and to proactive in spreading love.  As followers of Jesus, let us never be defeated or discouraged but instead see this time as a way to strengthen our faith and build up the ties that bind us together.

On behalf of all the staff and church leadership, I am

Yours in Christ,

Rev. Mark