The church is a place where should feel safe to share who they are and be real with one another. It is powerful when we are able to share our lives and tell our story to others. This last Sunday Chris Dillard shared a little of his story before he sang, the song he wrote "Song for the Broken", for us in worship. We should as a church be able to share our story and tell others when we are feeling sad, or lonely, or anxious. Part of journeying together is that we continue to love and care for one another no matter what we are going through. For Lent we have been looking at different parts of recovery and healing and this week we are looking at mental health. Our Director of Music Ministries, Holly Phillips, is going to share a song she wrote called "Broken Hallelujah" but before she does she is going to share the story of what happened in her life that led to her writing it. It will be a powerful witness and testimony and it is a song and story she shared with me the first time we met. This Sunday in worship we will have a Communion/Love Feast which means you need to have a food and a beverage with you as we gather at our real and yet virtual table together. Please invite others to join us, there are so many that are in need of being part of a faith community and need healing and hope. The plan is to open up the sanctuary for Sunday worship starting on Palm Sunday (March 28th) and have both 8am and 10:30am worship services. The plan is also for 8am to be more traditional and for the 10:30am to have some more contemporary music. As we continue forward you will start to notice and really be able to tell the difference between the 2 services but for now they are going to be more alike than different. Holly is starting to work on starting the choir and starting a praise band. Remember to reach out to her if you or someone you know has musical talents that might want to be part of our music ministry. Just a reminder that reaching out to her and showing some interest does not commit you but lets you be part of the process. We want people to explore their musical gifts so please reach out to Holly and know at any point after that you could decide it is not for you. So here are all the ways you can invite people to join with us.
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
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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
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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
Jesus was able to heal only after people shared their story or the story of their loved ones. We need to share out story so that we can begin our recovery. Don't be afraid to share with others where you need healing and prayer. Don't be afraid to share when things are not going alright. Let us listen to each others stories and journey together.
Blessings,
PH
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