Announcements

Mark you calendars now for the Annual Church Picnic on this Saturday May 15, 5:30.

This year the picnic will be held at the home of Lawson & Linda Allen, 200 Bahama Court. BBQ, ice, bottled water and condiments will be provided. You are asked to bring a side dish to share. Bring a camp chair if you have one, yard games, and any beverage you’d like other than the bottled water provided. It’s on the lake so you are welcome to bring fishing stuff, life jackets for children, swim floats, and S’more supplies.

See the May edition of The Bridge for more information. Join us for this fun fellowship event.

Adult Sunday School Returns! We are happy to announce that we will resume Adult Sunday School this Sunday, April 18th. We will gather right after early service for coffee and socially distanced fellowship and will then get on to our lesson beginning at 10:00.

Richard McCarthy will be reintroducing the video series that he started last spring. The video series is “Seeing Humanity Through The Eyes of God” by Rabbi Harold Cushner. Richard will be starting over at the first video, so it’s a perfect opportunity for new folks to join us along with those who were present last year. We received good “reviews” from those who were participating last year and hope this series will speak to all as we begin again this year.

Note: We do not yet have Children’s Sunday School up and running, but parents are welcome to bring children with them, if they prefer. We plan to have Sunday School for the children in the next few weeks. See you at Sunday School!

As you will recall, we suspended in-person worship in mid-November due to the spike in the number of cases of COVID-19. We set January 17 as a possible date to resume in-person worship, thinking that three weeks past the Christmas holiday the numbers of infections might be in decline. Unfortunately, our COVID numbers locally remain quite high and show no decline in recent weeks. Hood County remains at “substantial” risk for COVID transmission. Additionally, several of our church members have had or currently have the virus. The ad hoc committee charged with evaluating the pandemic numbers and reporting to the Session has continued to meet regularly to review weekly statistics.

We feel the safety of our congregants is of the utmost concern and that with no decrease in the number of infections it is unwise to resume in-person worship at this time. We also think it prudent to suspend small group gatherings – PW, Men’s Study and Sacred Space, etc. – until we can more safely be together. We will continue to review the situation weekly and will return to in-person gatherings when a decline in case numbers and an increase in vaccinations indicates that we may do so safely. Please know the decision to suspend in-person gatherings is not one we take lightly and it’s disappointing to have to do so. We simply feel it is the safest way to proceed to ensure the safety of each member of First Presbyterian.

We will continue to monitor the situation and we will keep you posted on decisions going forward. Your support in these past many months has been tremendously gratifying. Thank you. Please continue to join us for worship Sunday mornings via YouTube and Facebook.