When can we re-open?

Message from Pastor Mori 

Ravenswood Fellowship United Methodist Church The Weekly Newsletter    Message from Pastor Mori Dear RFUMC Family, First of all, I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know how much we appreciate your support, prayers, and patience during this unprecedented time. I had a chance to talk to several people through phone calls and email. Also, I had a chance to meet some guests at CAFÉ MORI (i.e., the Pastor's Office). As I met with them, I heard a common question from them: "when can we reopen Ravenswood Fellowship UMC"? As you can imagine, the task of opening our church for services again will take a lot more thought and planning. Especially since in the U.S., public health experts have emphasized that even with social distancing, the virus can easily spread through the air when hymns are sung and sermons are preached inside closed spaces.  I want to let you know that RFUMC is working on it. Our trustees have a plan to keep us safe when we begin meeting in the church building again and our re-opening team also will meet soon. As a pastor, I keep in touch with the District Superintendent in order to stay informed about the district's directions for re-opening churches. At the same time, I have begun reaching out to our local community churches and have a meeting with the pastors to know how their churches prepared or are preparing for re-opening, and what might be specific issues for the churches in our neighborhood some of which have already reopened. Also, I want to start with small steps. A Japanese Garden Morning Prayer Gathering is one of the small step projects. It will be a short, thirty-minute prayer meeting held in the Japanese Garden where we will be surrounded by God's creation. Attendance will be limited to a small group of 15 people. If you would like to pray in this way, please sign-up here. This prayer group will be a good chance to gather together as faithful community.  Our focus from the very beginning has been the health and safety of our members and attendees. This concern will continue to be the case as we move forward. We appreciate your prayers for everyone in leadership. My prayer is that we will be led by faith and not fear as we go through the process of opening our doors.   Please take some time to go over the enclosed guidelines. We will do our best to worship together again in a way that brings glory to God and encouragement to believers.  Blessings in Christ, Pastor Mori      PS) Pastor Mori's Q&A Q What are you reading now?  A)This book here    Give on PayPal Community Info & Links Now Open Café Mori Please visit Café Mori (Pastor's office in the church)  We have prepared super delicious free coffee and tea.  This week 7/20-7/25 Café Mori Hours  Tue  10:00-3:00    Thu 10:00-1:00  Wed 12:00-3:00     Fri   1:00-3:00  Garden Project -The RFUMC Garden team is going to have a work day on Saturday, July 25, between 8:30 and 12:30. If you could come and join us to help for even a short time, it would be greatly appreciated!! Please bring gardening gloves, a saw (electric/manual), or hedge clippers/pruners, if you have them. If you plan on gardening that weekend, please email Yuko Darcy at yukochicago@hotmail.com Japanese Garden Morning Prayer : August 01 Saturday  Saturday, August 01, at 9:00 am, we'll meet for our first Japanese garden morning prayer meeting. It will be a short prayer gathering with Japanese cultural spirituality at the RFUMC Japanese garden.  Please sign-up to reserve a spot here. UVC Celebrates: Kids Above All, MYSI, & Rosecrance We will feature our three agencies in the Northern Illinois Conference that advocate for and serve at-risk children, youth, and families. You will get a unique opportunity to hear about the outstanding work being done by each of these agencies.There will be a special time of dedication for Kids Above All, formerly ChildServ. Bishop Sally Dyck will officiate this important marker for this 126-year-old child welfare age that began as the Methodist Deaconess Orphanage in Lake Bluff, Illinois. Join UVC to Celebrate on August 4th. Here is the Flyer and the Registration link  Positive Community Prayer  Let's pray with our district police officers. This prayer will focus on victims of gun violence and will take place as follows. If you want to go with me, please let me know. Pastor Mori Email  Location: 2819 N Leavitt St Date: 24 July 2020 Friday Time: 11:00am to 1:00pm After Covid-19 Updates. Read about the Phases for Re-Opening here. Is that document too long? Read the summary version here.                                    Links for Worship.    Join Zoom worship by going to this link at 10:30 AM on Sunday: https://zoom.us/j/806489040. Or call in at 1-312-626-6799 (Meeting ID: 806 489 040).  Let's boost our worship! Please sign-up for Worship liturgist and Bible Reader. Sign-up here August Bible Scripture here, Worship Liturgy here. Young People's Bible Study. Ages 12-18 are invited to join the Zoom discussion of Jesus stories at 9 AM on Sunday mornings. Join the Zoom call here (Meeting ID: 873 2762 8076) Want prayer? During our Prayers of the People, we will read your prayer requests. Submit your prayer requests here.  Download. Get your bulletin here. Having trouble? Try logging off and logging back on to Zoom during the video. Or simply log off and call in.  Missed last week? Check out the Facebook Live video on our page here. Youtube Link here Give on PayPal Our mailing address is: 4511 North Hermitage Ave. Chicago, IL 60640 Contact us at: ravfelumc@yahoo.com (773) 561-2610 Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

This email was sent to ravfelumc.church@blogger.com why did I get this?    unsubscribe from this list    update subscription preferences Ravenswood Fellowship UMC · 4511 N Hermitage Ave · Chicago, IL 60640-5303 · USA