Hello St. Michael’s! I hope you are having a great Eastertide as we celebrate the risen Christ, and begin to enjoy warmer and sunnier days outdoors.  I have always appreciated the ancient church’s decision to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection during this time of the year.  Similar to our celebration of his birth on Christmas, near the darkest time of the year when the light is born and begins to grow, Easter is the point near the equinox when the light begins to overcome the darkness.  It is also the time when nature itself seems to celebrate God’s re-creating in our world and in our lives.  What is God growing for you?  

I have a couple of updates for you today regarding COVID and virtual worship.  Click to read more. 

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Last week, I told you about our hopeful changes to our online worship.  Not only are we planning to increase our quality (high definition, baby) of our live stream, we are hoping to be able to incorporate more cameras and even a closeup of the lectern when needed.  You can watch our livestream worship on our Facebook page, and also on the church homepage (it automatically updates to the live video on Sunday mornings).  

I am even more excited to tell you that we will be able to continue our Zoom for a while, so for those of you who enjoy interacting with others while worshipping, you may continue to do that.  You will be able to see the same livestream as those on the website.  The Zoom ID and link remains the same.  

You all know how much of a geek I really am underneath!  I have enjoyed the challenge of getting our church online and making it better at each iteration.  I hope this continues to be a meaningful way of being “at” St. Michael’s while the pandemic continues, and even beyond if you are unable to physically join us in the building.  

I want to also thank our anonymous donor who sponsored the Starbucks delivery coffee for Palm Sunday and Easter!  As I look at the forecast, when the weather is nice, I will hopefully have outdoor coffee for us to enjoy after worship (I’m not a meteorologist, so be patient with me on this prediction each week).  

Blessings to you all, and I hope to see you “in” church!  

Jesse+