A Word from the Pastor…
For many of us this sheltering-in-place has been challenging at times. Personally, I’d rather be working any other place but home. However, there are advantages like having no travel time from home to office or having lunch each day with Kathy. One of the downsides is looking around the house and seeing all those projects waiting for me.
Last Saturday I had to redo the caulking on my patio cover. It took me most of Saturday to cut and scrape out the old stuff. By the end of the day I was tired and sore and thought I could do the rest of the project on my next day off later this week. Then I looked outside this morning and saw the ominous rain clouds on the horizon. So, feeling a bit guilty for dispensing with church work, I scrambled up my ladder and completed my re-caulking project today before the rains came.
Our sheltering-in-place has thrown off many of our schedules. Our best laid plans sometimes get superseded by more pressing issues like, in my case, an emergency home repair. Sometimes I think to myself before the pandemic I had my schedule to stick to. There were certain things I did each week as part of my work: meetings, visits, study with the culminating event of worship each Sunday. Now all of that is gone for now and there is no routine like I had before.
The mantra that keeps popping into my head is that everything will be accomplished in God’s time. Worship planning, Zoom meetings, taping worship – they will all get done in God’s time. And even when my best laid plans are rudely disrupted, like having to go up to roof to finish re-caulking, that too is part of God’s time. And with this pandemic raging in our world and there seems to be little understanding on when we will return to normal, we must know that it will be in God’s time.
Just a thought for the day… Pastor Colin
Happening This Week…
Virtual Worship this Sunday, May 17th
Pastor Colin’s Sermon: Testify based on Acts 17:22-31
You can access our worship services through linking to
- our WCUMC website; or
- WCUMC Facebook page;
- our WCUMC YouTube channel.
- And if you would like a written summary of Pastor Colin’s sermon or DVD of the worship service , please call the church office at (925) 934-4208.
Virtual Coffee Hour, Sunday, May 17th, 11 am
Our Coffee Hours have been a great way to see one another in the “virtual” flesh. To be part of this Sunday’s time, please link here.
Bible Study on the Gospel of Mark, Wednesday, May 13th, 7 pm
Email Mark Charlton at [email protected] . He will send you a Zoom invitation to join the session. Please call 925-206-4876 if you have any questions.
Trustees Update…
Our parking lots will be resealed and striped from Wednesday, May 13 to Friday, May 15th. The parking lots will be closed starting Tuesday evening and will reopen on Friday, May 15th afternoon.
This is normal planned preventative maintenance. The work was scheduled for July, but we decided to move up the work during the SIP order. Thanks to Ron Kain for coordinating this project.
The Wednesday Work Crew is planning to resume our new-normal maintenance work on Wednesday, May 20th. This type of work is allowed under the new orders in Contra Costa County. We will observe strict social distancing and wear masks.
Finance Update…
April Income and Expense Report 33.3% of the year
Income Year-to-date $159,793 31.9% of Budget
Expenses Year-to-date $165,039 32.2% of Budget
Prayer Requests…
We continue to receive prayer requests to share during our “virtual” worship. So if you have a specific prayer to share during the service, please email those prayers to [email protected] no later than 11am this Thursday, May 14th.
Giving…
Please remember you can give to your church in the following ways: 1) by mailing your offering directly to the church office; 2) by giving online through our church website (please click here); or 3) by texting your donation to (877) 769-1961. Thank you for your continued support of your beloved church.