Friends, we are moving ahead and there is no turning back. I am not just talking about Daylight Savings Time. We will be fully open for worship on March 28th. March 28th is Palm Sunday and the palm branches for us to wave have been ordered and decorations have been planned. It will be a mighty celebration and starting on March 28th we will be going back to having 2 services, our 8am and our 10:30am. I know this has been long awaited for some and this is still too soon for others. As has been the case this whole last year we are all at different places in our lives, our health, our feelings about actions taken regarding COVID, what we feel comfortable doing, etc. And just as Tom's Creel has done for all of COVID we want to meet people where they are. SO we will still have the downstairs set up with chairs spaced 6 ft apart for those that want to be in church but are more cautious, we will still have it online on Facebook and YouTube. More details will be coming but I want people to know for certain that this is what is going to happen so you can plan on coming (in whatever way you feel comfortable) and you can start inviting friends and neighbors to join us. This week we are continuing to look at recovery and we are looking at soul recovery. We also will be calling out the fact that each of us are different in how we react when we are faced with our soul being wounded and weary. I will be sharing with you a term that I use, "FBS", when my soul is weary (you will have to worship with us and watch the sermon to find out what "FBS" is).
REMINDER WE LOSE AN HOUR THIS WEEKEND BECAUSE OF DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME SO ADJUST YOUR CLOCKS BEFORE GOING TO BED SATURDAY NIGHT!!! WE LOSE AN HOUR SO...NO TURNING BACK(:
We will have worship available downstairs in Fellowship Hall. There is plenty of room for all who come to have safe space between others. So if your soul needs to be with others for a time we offer this but know that for now it is safer to stay at home and utilize the many other ways we offer for you to worship together.
You can catch the Facebook Livestream at: https://www.facebook.com/tomscreekumc .
We will start the Facebook Livestream at @8:50am 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. 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 start the YouTube Livestream at 8:50 am 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.
You can also use a phone to listen to our service by calling 857-799-9465 from any phone starting at 8:50 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
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you can mail your offering to:
Tom's Creek United Methodist Church
10926 Simmons Road
Emmitsburg, MD 21727
Each of us are at a different place in our lives but we all need Jesus. We all need to turn to Jesus when we are weary and when our soul needs recovery. Worship is a place where we can do a recharge of our soul so that we are less likely to hit rock bottom and become spiritually drained. Let us stop looking back at the pains of the past, or focusing on the "good ol' days", and let us move forward looking to Jesus. Let us journey together and revive and restore our souls!
Blessings,
PH
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