Dear church family,
These words from the Apostle to the church gathered in Rome came to my mind as I thought about our church family this evening. They were written to city dwelling followers of Jesus who knew quite a bit about difficult days.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. —ROMANS 5
May the peace of Christ reign in your hearts even as you read each new update. You have gained access by your faith in Christ to grace that can help us stand in any situation. You have hope. You have the love of God pouring through your heart by the Holy Spirit. Even as we give up some normalcy we can meditate on this abundance.
Since the last update, it has become clear that it will be sometime before we will be able to gather again as a full congregation. (Though that day will come and it will be a truly joyous moment!) Given the CDC guidelines released over the weekend, it will be a minimum of eight weeks and certainly could be longer.
In the meantime, we are going to continue to curate a shared worship experience to be practiced in homes on Sundays. But as the situation changes we will have to remain flexible on how we connect with one another, even in smaller groups. NYC health officials are telling us that the next few weeks are critical for slowing the transmission of the virus. So given their guidance that we stay home as much as possible, we recommend using video conferencing tools for shared worship on Sundays and for life group and prayer group meetings.
We will send another email on Thursday with an updated listing of live video meetings for shared worship this Sunday. We are working on a few other resources to help support you and your families during this time and will be sharing more of those in Thursday’s update as well.
One resource we have felt compelled to create will be a shared effort amongst our church family. Beginning on Thursday we will be offering short daily reflections made by members of the community that we share with one another via video. These will be an ongoing way for us to encourage one another and maintain a daily sense of connection to the Body of Christ.
If you would like prayer or have a particular need or concern, please reach out to care@trinitygracechurch.com. This is a deeply challenging time, but we believe God will work through it in a way that matures us and deepens our connections with one another. One thing we can be assured of is that our God is with us. We may place our hope securely in Him in these uncertain times. Stay safe and take care of each other!
Peace.
Caleb and the TGC Team
John 16:33
