Dear AHUMC Family,
As I write this to you, our home is without power or water, and Trip and I are bundled up in coats and gloves, trying our best to keep warm under a pile of my grandmother’s hand-knitted afghans (thank heavens her favorite yarn was wool!). Perhaps some of you are dealing with the same kinds of challenges, so you understand our new appreciation for heat, light, water, and hot meals. Sometimes it’s easy to take simple things for granted, isn’t it?
Please know that Trip and I are praying for you constantly – for safety, warmth, peace, hope, and a deep sense of Christ’s abiding presence. Thank goodness we know that nothing – not even freezing weather or lack of water or power outages – can separate us from the love of Christ. “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, or rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8: 38-39). Where Christ is present, there is hope.
I also want to encourage you to do one of the things you do best – care for one another. Reach out to each other, to your neighbors, to your family and friends, and offer what you can to help. Even if you have nothing material to offer, remember that “prayer availeth much.” And if you need help, the church stands ready to assist in any way we can. We’ve set up a new email, help@ahumc.org, to receive requests for assistance. Please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Finally, you may be wondering about Sunday worship. At present, the church does not have water service, and power in the area is unreliable. Due to fire code, the building is closed, and we will not be able to hold in-person worship this Sunday. Safety is always our highest priority. We feel very fortunate to have prepared a beautiful worship service for Ash Wednesday, and we will be streaming this service on Sunday morning at 11 a.m. We hope you’ll join us then. We pray that both CLC and Sanctuary worship will resume in-person next week.
Stay warm and safe!
God’s Keeping,
Holly
