Today, as many of you are, I’m working from home. My youngest daughter is also home because her college campus at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY) is closed. She’s continuing her architecture studies at home and attending classes through Zoom technology. I’m now sharing an office with my wife who is a photographer. With all three of us working here, the house, which is small, feels even smaller. But we are making it work. Our older daughter is living with friends in Providence and it’s been hard not seeing her as frequently as everyone is practicing “social distancing”. My wife and I have been trying to get fresh air daily by going for a walk by the ocean at Rocky Point. Sadly, since the parks are getting closed soon, this won’t be an option. I’m really missing my normal routine of gathering with the church, having people over for meals, going to restaurants and cafes and so on. It’s a daily fight to stay positive and productive.
When the ban on gatherings first went into effect I think it was a two week ban and no groups more than 25. That seemed outrageous at the time but seems like nothing compared to the 5 person max on gatherings that seems like it could go on for months. We are all adjusting to this new normal and I’m praying a lot for the Ren community during this time. I’m praying for rest in God and that each of you would find how best to use this strange season of being shut away at home.
Many of you are finding this season to be busier than normal as you’ve been thrown into learning technology for work or homeschooling your children. Some are finding a heightened appreciation for school teachers these days! Others, because of the nature of their work, are not able to work. You might have so much free time that you’re actually bored. We are all being affected in different ways.
As a church staff, some of our positions have slowed considerably. For example, the person cleaning the church building doesn’t have much to do right now. Other positions on staff, including some new temporary positions, are very busy trying to create engaging content for our video stream on Sundays.
Last Sunday, we did our first ever online video service and I think it was pretty awesome. A big shout out to the little production team—Alli, Carlos, Shayna, Tiff—for making it happen. If you missed the service you can still watch it on YouTube here. We decided for this coming Sunday to do just one single live stream at 11am for simplicity. If you can’t tune in at that time you’ll be able to watch it on YouTube later in the day. Pray for us in this production effort as we want to make it better and better each week!
I have a good message for this Sunday which happens to be Palm Sunday. I’ll be preaching out of Luke 19 and drawing from the stories of the triumphal entry, Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, the cleansing of the temple and the daily preaching of Christ right before being crucified. It would be a good idea to spend some time in that chapter this week (verses 28-48) to get familiar. I think many, both Christians and non Christians have been asking the question, “Is God angry with everyone and sending this pandemic as punishment?” What I want to show you this week is how God feels and acts toward those who push him away. I want to show you something of the otherworldly love of God even toward his enemies! Be praying that I’d preach the message clearly and that many would be impacted by it.
Side note, I did not enjoy watching myself on the online video stream last Sunday. I was cringing at how intense I am. I said to my wife, “I feel like if I was hanging out with this guy (referring to myself) I’d be completely exhausted after 30 minutes”. On a Sunday at the church space we usually have 200-300 people gathered and it seems fitting and good to project my voice and get animated. But it doesn’t feel right on film. I’m planning to chill it down this coming Sunday and just talk as though I’m talking with one person. Pray that I can do this well.
Next week for Good Friday there will be an at-home experience created by the Ren Artists. This will be a 1 hour online event hosted at RenChurchRI.org to encourage prayer and reflection on the cross. There will be a live-stream at 7pm, and it will also be available on demand on our YouTube page if another time works better for you. Stay tuned for an invitation coming early next week that you can pass on to friends and family!
In one of my last newsletters I invited you guys to respond back and just tell me how it’s going and how I can pray for you. Thank you for the many wonderful notes. This helps so much to know how to pray and how to serve the church in this season. So I want to, again, invite any of you to respond back with a personal report, or prayer request or a struggle.
If you were laid off during this time and are in need of groceries, we want to help. Our benevolence funds are limited and we can’t pay anyone’s mortgage or anything like that, but we can at least give you a boost by helping with a grocery gift card. Don’t be shy about reaching out if you have a need.
Are you staying connected with people in the church during this season? For some of you, Sunday was your primary way of staying connected and now that we aren’t gathering Sundays you feel the disconnect. I would recommend jumping into one of our small groups. You can find a list on our website. There are about a dozen different groups to choose from. None of them are gathering physically but are coming together through Zoom technology.
One thing we are struggling with as a staff is knowing who considers themself part of the Ren community. We have about 125 Core members who we know are fully in but we have a database with hundreds of others we aren’t totally sure about. As elders, staff and council leaders we really want to know who we should be praying for and reaching out to. If you are not part of the Ren Core membership but very much want to be under the covering of our prayers and pastoral care during this pandemic—let us know!
On another note, many churches (and small businesses) are concerned right now that they aren’t going to make it financially. With people losing work their income is reduced, making them unable to give what they normally give. Some of you may fall into severe financial need during this season and fall into a place of needing to be given to rather than giving. I just want to encourage those who are getting hit financially to not feel bad if you can’t give as much. It’s okay. The church, thankfully, has some cushion saved up for this lean season. For those of us who are still receiving full incomes, let’s glorify God by continuing to give faithfully. I’m trusting God that as everyone simply does what they can during this season that it’ll be more than enough. I really do want it to be more than enough because I want us to be able to give lavishly to global missions and help people in need!
If you are a person who typically brings a cash or check offering on Sundays and drops it into our offering box I want to let you know there are other ways to give. You can find more info on our website. I would recommend just writing a check and mailing it to our PO Box. There are easier ways to give that require some initial set up like online banking, Venmo and so on. But for “old schoolers” mailing a check is the next best thing to placing a check in the offering box.
Here’s something for those of you that have an abundance of time on your hands right now and/or are eager to help those on the frontlines of health care work. One of my pastor friends on the Southside, John Ames, let me know about an initiative one of the moms, Dawn Kerr, in his church is leading. They are rallying together people who are able to sew to make masks since there is an extreme shortage in the local hospitals. To find out more information you can read the article below and go to their Facebook page, also below. Dawn also let me know that there’s a need for admin people to coordinate and moderate because so many people have responded to want to help. So if you can’t sew but have some time to serve doing deliveries or admin, reach out to Dawn directly (email below).
rimonthly.com/sew-hope-sne-face-masks/
FB group SewHope SNE
degkerr@netzero.net
I hope all this is helpful. I’m trying to be practical this week in my letter. If you have questions about anything please respond back and let me know. I really want you to feel well fed spiritually during this ban on gatherings. I’ll be praying hard to provide practical help, resources and a good message each Sunday. One resource I may have already mentioned is Gospel Coalition. It’s a website but you can subscribe to their daily email that comes with at least three articles. They have hundreds of writers who contribute from all over the world and they are doing an amazing job addressing the full range of issues related to the pandemic. The articles will give you practical instruction, as well as, theological grounding. It’s a good way to balance all the stuff we are reading in our news feeds!
I love you all and pray much for you during this season that the God of Peace would drench your hearts and still your souls.
-Pastor Scott