Greetings Calvary Church Members;

Yesterday the Church Council held another meeting to discuss the difficult and even heartbreaking question of whether we should extend the cancellation of physical church services this coming Sunday and beyond. As most of you probably know by now President Trump has extended the nationwide quarantine guidelines through the end of April and just today Governor Wolfe extended the Shelter in Place order to include all 67 counties of our state. Given these facts, the Council was united in its belief that we truly have no other option than to extend the cancellation of services through the end of the month as well. The Council voted unanimously to cancel at church services for April 5th, 12th, 19th, and the 26th. It was a difficult decision but one which is necessary in the face of the current COVID 19 pandemic.

This DOES NOT mean that there will be no celebration of the death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Rev Williams will continue his weekly Facebook Live service broadcast and we are encouraged and elated by how many of you have elected to join us each week via that medium. In addition, the pastor is also looking at several ideas for a special celebration of Easter Sunday and we are hopeful that a way can be found to have everyone participate in the observance of Holy Week events. If anyone has an idea for how we might best do that you are encouraged to reach out to the pastor or any member of the Worship Committee. We are actively soliciting members' thoughts and ideas on ways we can observe and celebrate the most important date in the Christian Calendar.

I would also like to appeal to all members to consider making regular donations to help the church maintain its operations and physical plant. The services are not being held but the ministries continue to work! We have partnered with Tithely to help members make their weekly gifts online safely, quickly and securely. You can access the Tithely system on the church web page under "Giving". You can also find it here.

Know that we monitor developments every day (as I'm sure you all do as well.) and, should circumstances change, we will immediately reconvene the Council and make a decision to reopen as soon as possible.

On behalf of the Council, we wish you health, safety and the love of Christ every day for you and for all the members of the Calvary United Methodist Church family.

Sincerely,

Alan N Johnson
Council Chairperson