Sometimes it is just great to come together, and listen, and sing, and clap to songs about God and give praise to God. Well, that is what we are doing this Sunday at Tom's Creek. Highway Harmony is coming to fill our sanctuary with good old Gospel music. They sing some classics hymn and ones they have written too. They also have an amazing story to tell of being in mission through music and Truck-stop Ministries. Invite people to join us.
Yesterday, the Maryland Governor announced that it was ok for vaccinated people to remove their masks when inside BUT what went unnoticed by some is that he excluded some settings where people congregate. In addition, we have many that come to our church from Pennsylvania where the Governor has not yet taken that action. So we will still be expecting to see masks/shields for our time of worship. When it is not a time of worship you no longer are required to where masks in the building. Since when we worship we have a good number of peopling congregating for an extended period of time I want to give a little time for people to get vaccinated that have not yet. For our teens/preteens their opportunity to receive a vaccine just opened up. I imagine that by the first Sunday in June, most people who want a vaccine should be able to have received a shot. And this is my plea, go get the vaccine. AND the masks will be gone soon!
This Sunday the format will be a little different because I want to give as much time as possible to Highway Harmony to sing and share. We know we have 2 baptisms tomorrow, and we have some new members too! It will be an exciting time of worship. Make sure you look at the attached bulletin for information about the service and what is happening at church.
Attached is the bulletin that you can view or print out for Sunday morning. Just a reminder that 8am is a traditional service with most of the songs being hymns and the 10:30am service is contemporary with newer praise songs. Below are some further details about ways to access our services this Sunday at 8am and 10:30am both in person and online. And near the bottom are different ways to financially support the ministries of our church.
When coming to worship in the sanctuary there are some things to be mindful of. You will need to wear a mask or face shield into the building. If you forget or do not have a mask or face shield, a mask will be provided to you to wear while you are in the building. There will be a sign-in station where you can get a bulletin and other items so keep walking when you come through the door until you get to the sign-in table. At the sign-in table there will also be a place to put prayer requests. If you put them in before the service they will be included in some form during our prayer time. We will not pass the plate during the service but your monetary offering can go in the wooden box that is next to the sign-in table and there is also another box near the altar rail. There are hand sanitizer stations throughout the church and they are there for you to use them. You are NOT required to have received a vaccination in order to attend worship. In the sanctuary we have not roped off pews so there is not a guarantee of being 6 feet apart. I will not be wearing a mask while on the altar and any singers we have on the altar will not be wearing mask. Currently, we will not be having a fellowship time downstairs in order to increase health safety BUT we will have Adult Sunday school following 8am worship.
If for any reason you are not able to come to the sanctuary to worship we are trying to provide other great ways to join us in worship. Please know that all services that are live-streamed remain up afterwards. That means that you can come back later and watch it if you miss it or your internet is having issues. In the event that we have a major internet issue or some other technical issue we will post a recording of the service later in the day. If there are issues with one service live-streaming you can also watch the other but we hope that doesnt happen to often.
You can catch the Facebook Livestream at: https://www.facebook.com/tomscreekumc .
We will try start the Facebook Livestream at @ 7:50am and 10:20am and you will see messages on the screen and hear music playing. This is the best option if you want to interact with others online. Please know we are putting the date on a couple of slides in the announcement and the welcome slides so that you know you are live-streaming the correct service. Feel free to chat to each other before and during the service. You can put prayer requests in the chat. This is great way to be able to interact with others if you watch it live with others in your church family who are staying home but want to worship as part of an online community. It will continue to be there to watch later and feel free to share or create watch parties in order to share it with others.
You can catch this livestream on our Toms Creek UMC channel at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX6E7eCwH2ZGYspkSCF0CGw/featured. We will TRY to start the YouTube Livestream at 7:50 am and 10:20am and you will see announcements scroll and hear music playing. This format is best if you are watching on a television or large screen with lots of people gathered around. You can have it fill the whole screen and just watch it without any distractions. There is a way to chat on YouTube but it normally has a lot less people and is normally a lot less chatty than the our Facebook livestream. If you subscribe to our channel it will let you know when we go live in future weeks. Later in the day another shorter version of the service is posted but for this coming series I recommend taking in the entire worship experience.
You can go to our website here https://www.tomscreekumc.com/service-videos and by Monday morning there should be a version of our service. Sometimes the whole service is there instead of the shortened version depending on different factors. Sometimes it will be from the 8am service and sometimes it will be from the 10:30am service.
For just the 10:30am service you can use a phone to listen to our service by calling 857-799-9465 from any phone starting at 10:20 am. This will only have sound coming through and you will not be able to see anything that is occurring. If you would like we can we make a DVD of the service for you to watch just let the church office or Pastor Heath know.
To give your financial offering you can sign up to give electronically here: https://www.eservicepayments.com/cgi-bin/Vanco_ver3.vps?appver3=oo37DPDB_IkRvUYRT4XYFR9HODrOVn_HRoRVzfIf6wIC8Jr39BzhtDTFkxI3DZSBugLUwNICM4mn_Vn6Yqj7ze3avdPht8ScFTxSmF__f6NGGfZi-D-1l6WdFZHC1c8U
OR
you can text 844-406-0358 with an amount as the text. It will set up to give over text and from then on you just put in the amount and your donation to the church will go right through
OR
you can go to our website and hit the donate button on our webpage, https://www.tomscreekumc.com
OR
you can mail your offering to:
Tom's Creek United Methodist Church
10926 Simmons Road
Emmitsburg, MD 21727
I hope you enjoy the music of Highway Harmony. We will be giving them a love offering from the church and if you want to support their ministry they are always willing to receive a financial blessing. In addition, they will have their music available to purchase after the services. This is another way to support their ministry. I know the worship is going to bless people and have them tapping their foot all week so invite others to join us.
Blessings,
PH
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