Greetings and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
I am sure that by now you have heard that our church, Eden UMC will be closed for the next four Sundays. We have also cancelled the monthly breakfast for April.
This closure is at the request of Bishop Julius Trible of the Indiana Conference of the United Methodist Church. It does seem to be the responsible thing to do because of the circumstances with the Corona virus.
I have discussed this with the Chair of the Pastor/Parish relations committee, Chair of the Board of Trustees, and the Chair of the Administrative Council, and all agree that we should follow Bishop Trimble’s request.
I am working with Corey to put a worship service online on Sunday morning. It is my hope that we will be able to be live, in the church on Sunday morning at 9:30.
We will be broadcasting through the Eden UMC Facebook page. All you will need to do is find us on Facebook and hopefully we will be there. Please ask someone for help if you need to Our goal is to be live while you are watching, but some technical difficulties may prevent that. I will be sure to tell you if we are live or not.
If you have announcements, joys, and concerns that you would like announced, please email them to edenpray2@gmail.com. Those emails will come to me directly and I will read them for you. I feel like Wolfman Jack on the dedication line!
I want to encourage you to stay in contact with one another. A simple phone call can go a long way.
When I have been in public, I ask people that I can make eye contact with if they are doing ok through all of this. I listen to them. The I remind them that God loves them and will always watch over them. I tell them God bless you and I am off. Trying to find the peanut butter and someone else to reassure about God’s love.
Please take care of yourselves, you can always email me at dave.crittenden@inumc.org or text me at the number on the front of the bulletin.
My cousin Larry sent me a Bible verse today that I want to share with you. It is John 14:27, and it says:
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
God is with us. Open your heart and mind to accept God’s gift of peace and comfort in these crazy times. It can be very easy to shut God out as we try to stay in control. Give it to God.
Tune in Sunday, and you might hear about my cousin Larry. And maybe my cousin Darrel and my other cousin Darrel.
