CORONAVIRUS UPDATE

GREETINGS,

I love you all and wish I could be with you in person. When I first dreamed about this church plant, I imagined all the possible things that could be obstacles for us. Never in a million years could I have imagined a global pandemic being the biggest hurdle we would face. We are living in a rare moment in history, and the Church needs to rise to this new challenge of how to be the Body of Christ in this rapidly changing situation.

If the Church is a city on a hill and a light to the world (and it is!), then now is not the time to shrink away from planting, but to press forward even more. This won’t be the last challenge we face, and amidst it all, we know that even “the gates of hell shall not prevail” against the church (Matthew 16:18). Christ is the one building this, not me or us, and that should give us great comfort because what he starts, he finishes.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR US?

  • Join us Online on Sunday: Starting Palm Sunday (April 5th) we are going to start online services. Wait, what? Yep, we are going to start weekly services online until the outbreak restrictions lift. Everyone is online now, so we are going to be too. You can join us weekly at saintandrewsyakima.org/sunday.

  • Join a midweek book study: We are also going to start a midweek book study starting the week after Easter. Our book will be “A Praying Life” by Paul Miller. If you can’t get your hands on a physical copy, there is an option for a Kindle version on Amazon. This will be a good opportunity for us to connect real time and grow in a life of prayer. Especially in times like we are in right now, we need to learn how to lean on God in our trials. We would love to have you join us.

During this time when we can’t be physically present with each other, it is more important than ever to find ways to connect. We don’t need social distancing, we need distance socializing. I hope that we can do this together on Sunday and Wednesday online, sharing life together amidst our distance.

TRUST IN GOD

This is a trying time. You may lose your job. You may suffer isolation and loneliness. But God is faithful through it all. The same God who allowed Lazarus to die, also raised him from the dead. He raises us too, but death comes before resurrection. This side of heaven, pain and suffering happen but Jesus is with us, comforting us, and encouraging us to be a comfort to others. In the words of the Apostle Paul:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

-2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (ESV)

Jesus is with you and is your comfort in affliction. The beauty of experiencing the comfort of the Lord, is that it pours into us, it spills out and brings comfort to our neighbors as well.

Please reach out if you have any special needs during this time and we will serve you the best we can.

I love you, and I am praying for you.


Pastor Craig Harris

craig.harris@saintandrewsyakima.org