Letter from November 25

Dear First Presbyterian Church,

The City of Middletown has issued a health advisory encouraging everyone to stay at home to “the greatest extent possible.” The reason for this advisory is that Middletown is experiencing exponential growth in the number of COVID-19 cases, and hospital staff and facilities are “becoming taxed beyond capacity.” This breaks our heart, and we call on our congregation to pray for all medical and hospital workers, as well as people exposed or infected with the virus.

Worship on November 29 worship will be live-stream only. The service will be available on the virtual worship page of our website. Session will meet next week to discern what God is asking us to do next. The Pre-K Readiness program is not meeting this week because of Thanksgiving, and Session will consider the next steps for this program at our meeting next week.

As we celebrate Thanksgiving this week, we give thanks for each of you. If you are feeling isolated or lonely, please do not hesitate to reach out to one of our elders or our pastor. Please call on one another and encourage one another.

In Christ,

Session

UPDATE from December 2

After prayerful consideration, Session decided that pausing in-person worship for the next two weeks was the most prudent option available for us at this time. Worship on December 6 and 13 will be live-stream only and available online at https://www.fpcmiddletown.com/virtual-worship. Join a Zoom call at 11:15 following worship to check-in with one other and offer prayer requests. Session will meet again on Tuesday, December 15.

The best way to find the live-stream is from our virtual worship page of our website. You may have to click on “Watch this video on YouTube” after clicking on the video.

The Zoom link is https://zoom.us/j/3577569746. You can also call-in at (312) 626-6799 and use meeting ID 357 756 9746.