My beloved Mt. Tam Church,
Please tell me, how are you doing? I’d love to have each and every church member send me an email with the answer to that question.
For I miss being with you, seeing you, and being together in worship, as well as other settings. I feel the connection as we live stream. I imagine you in your homes worshiping and I miss being in the sanctuary.
I am praying that our proposal for beginning outdoor worship on September 13th is accepted and approved by the District Superintendent. I’m hoping that we will be allowed back into the sanctuary, all precautions taken, sometime soon.
In the meantime, how are you doing? It will do this pastor’s heart good to know. It can be a short response, a massive long one, a phone call, or even a text. And if you want to meet face-to-face, I’m ready! There are many locations and means to do that safely and confidentially. I look forward to that. I’m here. Let me know how you are and thank you!
Peace,
Pastor Kim
Pastor Kim will be on vacation from Monday, August 3rd through Tuesday, August 18th. Our “guest preacher” will be Pastor Betty Pagett, who will preach and lead the online live stream service on August 9th and 16th.
News
Faith Matters- Church Goes On!
My beloved Mt. Tam Church,
It astonishes me how much “church” is going on while the church cannot gather together physically. While we have been meeting and worshipping online (since March 16), God has worked with and through us to:
- Create a new ministry, Tender Loving Care (TLC) Ministries, a program for trained lay members to reach out and connect with other lay members. Last month, dozens of contacts and calls were made. God at work through us!
- Given that we cannot host the Community Meal for the time being, the members who are core to that ministry have been in prayer about other opportunities to serve.
- The Community Ministry Team pivoted to other forms of service and last Saturday, eleven church and community members worked at the Food Bank. God at work through us!
- Eike & Winnie Konopath are serving each Tuesday at a pop-up pantry located at Marinships in Sausalito. This service is being provided in conjunction with mobile showers on that day. Sue Ernst picks up the food items from the Ritter House in San Rafael and delivers to the pop-up where E&W serve the homeless. We have reunited with several of our “regular” guests at our community meals at Mt. Tam! We proudly represent UMC Mt. Tam. Well, God provides!
Welcome to a new partner
- Trans Heartline House, a small home for transgender people who have had medical treatment and need a safe and quiet place for recovery and renewal. Sue Ernst, Marilynn Belek and Winnie Konopath will be attending a training next week on bringing groceries and meals to Trans Heartline House for the 3-6 residents there. This would be a GREAT service for families with children. God at work through us!
- Many of us joined in, and enjoyed, the Town Hall forums last week. The Wednesday forum was blessed with Hyunjung’s presence and she spontaneously started playing “Amazing Grace’ and we all sang. Which is bringing about a new fun and fellowship evening: HYMN SING! Tuesday, July 28th, 6 p.m., for 30 minutes. Full details and link above. Great for all ages!
In the meantime, the Return Team and Church Council work to perfect our proposals to the District Superintendent for returning to our buildings and in person worship. Jeff Brown is bringing home the installation of a new, state of the art recording system for high quality live streaming in the sanctuary. Tricia Wiig is perfecting a program of hybrid planning (some in person, some online) for youth and children. God at work through us!
Thanks be to God!
Peace,
Pastor Kim
Faith Matters –Gotta Read This One!
My beloved Mt. Tam Church,
If there is one pastor’s letter I hope you read (and I hope you read them all), please read this one because it contains very important news for our congregation in terms of how we will be able to return to worship together in our sanctuary. Are you ready?
I hope so because getting ready for return is the name of the game right now which is presently taking about half of my time. In order to physically return to our buildings, we need to develop an extensive plan for the implementation of safety health guidelines and protocols. Then, we will need to submit a Return Request Report to the District Superintendent for approval and fill out the Site-Specific Protection Plan (SSPP) for the County of Marin. Once we have all the approvals we can implement our plan. Of course, we’ll need all the preparations ready and the people to make it work. That’s a lot and it might take a while to get all that to the goal line. Up to 3 months, in fact.
Given that, here is the tentative plan: we will continue our current format of online live streaming through the end of August into September. If we receive approval, we will begin in-person worship outside on September 13th, for 4-6 Sundays, as the weather holds. Prayerfully and hopefully, by then we will have our approvals and will be able to move back into the sanctuary around November 1st. Please remember, this is all dependent on plan approval, the restrictions of the times, and our ability to successfully execute our plan.
Worship will be different (more on that later). Many of you have asked for more specific plans, but this is the best I can offer you at the moment. I wish I could be more firm about dates and conditions, but given our situation this is what we have. Thank God for God’s grace and love which abounds us, fills us, and guides us while being with us!
If you want to be part of a conversation, sign up to participate in the town hall meeting after worship Sunday. The link is in this Faith matters. You voice is important and I look forward to this congregational conversation together.
Peace,
Pastor Kim
Faith Matters — And So Does Peace!
Dear Mt. Tam Church,
As you read this, we’ll be wrapping up another week of Peace Camp, this year on Zoom! While meeting virtually isn’t quite the same as meeting in person (I realized how much I missed the children and the energy that they bring when we all meet together in Fellowship Hall), it was really sweet to meet with these 10 peace campers online, along with our adult leaders. It was extra special to have two of our former church children, James and Rose, join us from their new home in Southern California, and to have one camper all the way from Berlin, Germany (my friend’s daughter). A big thanks to Sue Ernst, Kathy McMahon, Kristen Choi and Dan Silin for their time and leadership at Peace Camp!
I’m so glad we went ahead with virtual peace camp this summer, because we’ve since learned that our annual conference isn’t allowing in-person camps or mission trips to take place this year and I would have been so sad to have had to cancel it! Well, when you’re given lemons, you make lemonade! And what great lemonade we’re making (metaphorically!). Everyone needs some peace right now, and there’s always more to learn about being peace-making people. I hope that this week of Peace Camp inspires our kids to stand up for themselves, their friends, all people and our earth. Working for justice and peace is always the right thing to do.
Usually, the Sunday following camp, the children are invited to join us in worship to display their art, sing peace camp songs and share what they’ve learned about being peacemakers. This year, since we can’t meet in person, we will have 2 of our peace campers join us for online worship as our special singers: brothers Jake and Charlie. I hope you’ll join us so you can catch a little bit of that peace camp spirit and feel empowered to be peacemakers too!
With love and blessings,
Tricia Wiig
All Church Town Hall Meeting on Zoom Wednesday, July 8th & Sunday, July 12th
JOIN US FOR TWO ALL-CHURCH TOWN HALLS
July 8th, 7pm & July 12th, 11:30am
Join us on Zoom as we discuss returning worship and church
building use. Share your concerns, ideas and questions. Email [email protected] for the Zoom link or phone-in number.
Faith Matters–Becoming The New Creation
My beloved Mt. Tam Church,
Good news! The protocols are in! We will be using the protocols from the State, the County, and the Annual Conference as we begin the planning for returning to our buildings and worship. But don’t hold your breath waiting! “The protocols” are dozens of pages of guidelines and requirements in order to provide a safe and healthy environment upon return. It will take some time and a great deal of detailed effort to create a Site-Specific Plan (SSP) that we will submit to the District Superintendent for approval. I promise to keep our whole congregation informed as we move forward and it will take work from all of us to make it happen. Here’s what is taking place:
1. We have created a Return Team (the football fan in me couldn’t resist) for creating the SSP and doing the work to make the changes we need for return. In addition to Dave Erskine, facilities manager, and me, the team consists of Sue Ernst, Kevin Skiles, and Leslie Lee along with Chris Hubbard and Karen Jernstedt as backup. The Return Team’s job will take the bulk of the summer as we digest the requirements of the protocols, apply them to our situation, and make the proper preparations.
2. We are creating a Reimagining Ministry Group, a larger and broader group of lay members who will envision and imagine what “new creation” God is making through and at Mt. Tam Church for the next 6 months to 5 years. The post-COVID 19 church will not look like the church of even six months ago. Fortunately, we are blessed to be in the position to wildly and widely imagine ministry in the new world emerging. If you are interested in being a part of this creative thinking and vision creation, please let me know.
Finally, I would like to invite each and every church member to take part in one or both Town Hall Meetings on Zoom, to talk about how we are all doing, our concerns, joys, and questions about returning to our buildings and sanctuary. We will also be discussing ideas for the future. You will receive a Zoom invitation soon. The dates are Wednesday, July 8th, 7 P.M. and Sunday, July 12th at 11:30 A.M. As we move forward in our return process, we will host other Congregational Conversations from time to time.
To prepare for the July 8th and 12th, Chris Hubbard and I will be sending out a Survey Monkey about how people are feeling and thinking about returning. If you would please be so kind to respond, that will be most helpful as we plan and get ready for the Town Hall Meeting. If at any time, you have questions, ideas, or concerns please do not hesitate to call me or email me. This is OUR church! We are currently doing all right and we look forward to the day when we can be together again. In the meantime and for the future, let’s dream and dare of new ways of being church, becoming the new creation.
In gratitude and peace,
Pastor Kim