Author: peaceucc

June 22, 2022

Dear Peace Family,

Many of you have been aware that Pastor Christen has been struggling with what her doctors now believe to be long-haul Covid symptoms. Her doctors have suggested that the best way for her to heal is to take some time to rest and recuperate.

She has requested two weeks of her paid vacation be used, and then has offered to take an unpaid leave of absence for six weeks (three pay periods). The Pastoral Relations Committee unanimously approved this request as did the Board in our meeting Monday evening.

Pastor Christen will begin her medical leave on June 27th and will return to the office on August 23rd. In the meantime, the office will remain open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:00-2:00 by our Interim Administrative Assistant, Lynn Amann to field any questions or to direct you to pastoral care referrals in Pastor Christen’s absence. We are thankful Pastor Christen will have this time to rest, and we look forward to welcoming her back as we begin our busy fall season at the church!

In preparation for this leave, Pastor Christen has prepared liturgy for the eight weeks she will be out of the pulpit and pulpit supply will be provided on July 3rd and 10th by Rev. Kathleen O’Connell (who has been attending Peace church since spring). Rev. O’Connell is a retired Lutheran pastor with the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church of America). From July 17th through August 21st pulpit supply will be provided by Rev. Kate Penney Howard who is a Disciples of Christ minister at North Christian Church here in Fort Wayne. Because North Christian meets for worship on Thursday evenings, Pastor Kate is available to fill our pulpit on Sunday mornings. Both Pastors Kathleen and Kate will also be available for emergency pastoral care should the need arise.

We look forward to welcoming both Pastor Kathleen and Pastor Kate into our sanctuary on Sunday mornings and are appreciative of their willingness to serve as Pastor Christen recovers.

And we are thankful to be a church that cares about the health of our pastor and glad to we offer her time for respite and recovery. She asked me to also share with the congregation her deep gratitude for granting this time for healing and looks forward to being back with us soon.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me at miller.amyb.01@gmail.com
With peace and hope,

Amy Miller, Board Chair

December 6, 2021

Dear Peace Family,

Your church board met this evening to discuss the safety of meeting in person for worship during the current rise in COVID infections, hospitalizations, and deaths. The following motion was passed.

“Because Allen County is currently in the Red Advisory Zone for COVID, the Peace Church Board determined that we will resume online worship services exclusively through January 9, 2022. The board will meet on January 10, 2022, and will revisit our worship status in that meeting.”

Please stay safe and well,

Amy Miller
Peace UCC Board President

Dear Peace Friends and Family,

If you have been watching or reading the news lately, the rise in new COVID cases has probably not escaped you. For your church board this is concerning, as we value the health of every single individual and carry the knowledge that some of us have not been able to get vaccinated yet, most notably our children. Because we wish to be proactive in our consideration of how we hold worship, we met today to consider our options and to create a solid plan for moving forward. With the wisdom and guidance of medical professionals in our midst we concluded that the most responsible course of action is to resume online worship until after Labor Day and reevaluate the situation at that time. We will be carefully watching the COVID trends and use science and reason to guide our next steps.

It may feel difficult to go back to online services so soon after we resumed gathering in person, but we believe it would be far harder to cope with the knowledge that some of us became ill after meeting live. As Pastor Christen illustrated for us in today’s message, walking together and supporting one another as we go will get us all to the finish line.

Please reach out to me if you have any questions.

Peace and Blessings,
Amy

Beloved Church Family,

As you may have noticed when looking at the weather report, we’re expected to get a fair bit of rain this weekend, which calls into question outdoor worship!

Fear not, your trusty board and worship committee and staff have created an alternate plan to keep you all safe and dry! We will CONTINUE TO HAVE WORSHIP AT 9:00 AM as scheduled), but we will be moving INSIDE the sanctuary a week early. Because worship has already been planned, and worship bulletins printed, it will still be a shorter service, but we all determined it was better to be dry!

The sanctuary is still not quite ready for us…you’ll notice a little dust and smell a little must (the plan has been for this next week to give it a thorough clean and get the air vented out a bit to clean out the musty smell, but we don’t have that kind of advance notice).

So, no need to pack your lawn chairs. INSTEAD, be sure to bring your face masks. (If you don’t have one, we will have a box of disposal ones on-hand.) It is imperative for all over the age of 8 to wear them inside the building since our younger children have not been vaccinated, and since we will still be singing (I know, singing in masks is the worst, but we have to maintain careful safety until all have access to vaccinations).

It won’t be quite the triumphant Sunday I was looking forward to our first day back in the sanctuary, but it is the right thing to do. And what matters MOST is that we are together, and that we are safe, and that we are sheltered.

Please, please pass the word to any you know who are not online. We’ll also be sharing this via the prayer chain.

See you Sunday at 9:00. (we’ll return to our 10:15 time next Sunday and continue with that time here on out…).

Peace and love,
Pastor Christen