Dear Church Family,
I understand that we live in an age of sensationalism. And still, what we are going through is unprecedented for all of us. It’s not that we haven’t lived through other crises and major cultural shifts. But this is certainly a new one. I’m tempted to preach here, but I won’t. I will simply say: WE ARE STILL THE CHURCH, not in spite of this moment, but ESPECIALLY IN THIS MOMENT. And I will say this as well: Thank God for technology. As I ran today, I realized that our ability to connect across space is a kind of “embodiment” of the Holy Spirit’s mysterious ability to bind us together.
This letter, however, is more about the “how” of being the Church, so let’s get to it:

• Sunday Worship will be streamed on Sunday mornings at 10:30am, though it will be available afterwards. It will stream on our new YouTube channel (Point Place UCC), as well as our Facebook Page, and most conveniently, on the front page of our website: www.pointplaceucc.com. Please take a moment and subscribe to our YouTube channel. If we get 100 followers, it makes this platform way more convenient, trust me.
• We will have a handful of weekly “Check-In & Pray” sessions. This will be done via the Zoom platform. Links to follow from your computers and smartphones will be sent each week, but our meeting ID will always be 4197267390 (the church’s phone number). Even if you don’t have or use the internet, at the time of the meeting, you can simply call 312-626-6799. It will ask for the Meeting ID (4197267390#) and if it asks anything else, just hit the # key again. Times may vary each week.
• We will be instituting a good ol’ fashioned phone tree for those who don’t use email or facebook. If you want to get phone calls with Check-In & Pray times, as well as other important weekly news, please call the church (419-726-7390) and leave a message and we will put you on the tree.
• I, Pastor Jon, will also make an effort to check in regularly via phone. If I’m not quick enough for your liking or you have a specific need or question, please don’t hesitate to call me on my cell (440-668-6083)
• GIVING. As one colleague has recently said, “The bills don’t stop, and we trust that neither will your generosity.” This is an important time to continue (or start) giving as you are able. We will, of course, take offerings that you mail in. But now may also be a good time to sign up for Tithe.ly, our electronic giving platform. It is extremely simple. Just go to our website and click the green “GIVE” button. That will get you going.
• That said, we know this is a difficult time for some of you financially. We are still here to support you through the Ivy Allen Fund. Please also let us know if you need help getting groceries, medication, etc. Please please do not hesitate to call the church, and we will make every effort to make sure you are cared for.
• Feed My Sheep will not be serving meals except to those we normally deliver. If you need to be added to our delivery list, please call the church and let us know.
• We continue to talk to other Point Place and UCC churches to discern how we can observe the coming holiest days of the Church. Please stay tuned as we adapt.

I understand that some of you are not big on technology. Now might be a good time to take some steps of faith into this arena as we seek connection. But if not, please help us to know how we can reach out to you in a helpful way.
And for those of you out-of-towners, this is a great chance to re-connect as we are making ourselves more available virtually. Check in with us and say “Hello!”
Sisters and Brothers, it is a gift to be your pastor as we walk through this valley. Please be wise as we listen to the best information and instruction from Gov. DeWine and his team, or whoever your local leaders are. We are all in uncharted territory…on one hand. On the other, we are those who carry the cross, who acknowledge the shadowy valleys, and who cry out in prayer, always in the presence of our Shepherd, our Savior, and Friend. We do not know where this trial will take us, but we know who leads us there.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Jon Komperda

While it's good to draw on the rich traditions of the Christian movement, there is also room for creativity and new expressions of faith. Because even the best rituals and practices of faith must be integrated as authentic expressions of a disciple and spiritual community. 
At Point Place UCC, we have people of all ages in worship, people with different musical preferences, different spiritual styles, different experiences of church and life, and lots of different gifts. Which is awesome. But it can make crafting an authentic expression of the community a challenge.
So, we're going to start a conversation about WHAT WORSHIP IS and HOW WE DO WORSHIP. The plan is to gather on Saturday, August 4th in the lounge and ask these very questions.

Ladies, check out this opportunity for some fellowship time as well as a chance to raise some money for Vacation Bible School. It's coming up this Sunday!

Palm Sunday: We've moved our Celebrate contemporary worship this month just to capture the joy, hope, and excitement of the Palm Sunday story. As the crowds shouted their praises, sung their psalms, and waved their palms--so will we. Worship, as always, is at 10:30am.
Feed My Sheep: Holy Week happens to be a meal week. We will prep on Monday at 6:30pm, not only for our meal on Tuesday (5-7pm), but also for the meal we will take downtown on Thursday. Join us--we need all the help we can get throughout the week!
Maundy Thursday: "Table in the Park" Just like last year, we will be taking a meal down to Uptown Green Park (Madison/20th St. Downtown) to open up Jesus' Table to our unhoused neighbors downtown. Not only do we want to serve a meal, but we would love this to be a true coming together of our congregation around the table with our neighbors. We will do last minute prep at 3:30pm before heading down to serve at 5pm.
Good Friday Community CrossWalk: Our 4th annual CrossWalk will again start at the Lighthouse at 11am. With brief reflections by different community clergy at the Lighthouse, Messiah Lutheran, Point Place UCC, and St. John the Baptist, we will contemplate the choice of faith--how will we respond to Jesus? 
Good Friday Tenebrae Service: At RiverPoint, this 4-church service is called "Voices of the Cross." It will be a simple and solemn service with music, prayer, and silence. Childcare will be available.
Easter Sunday: Breakfast at 9:30am and Worship at 10:30am. We will celebrate the Risen Christ and our freedom to love. Music will be led by Kevin Korecki, Ericka and Alicia Winne, Jonee Meiser, and  Sharon Lee.

​Maybe you are asking some of those questions right now about a person or situation in your life. 
Well, as we journey towards the Cross this Lent, not only is our sermon series about forgiveness, but we are holding Forgiveness Workshops on Tuesday evenings at 6:45pm. We will, with the help of Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his daughter Mpho, work through a process of what Christlike, healing, and healthy forgiveness can look like in our lives.
Join us on this journey on Tuesdays during Lent.
On Tuesdays 2/20, 2/27, and 3/20--our meal will be the Feed My Sheep free community meal offered in Paterson Hall. You can eat anytime after 5pm and we will gather in the choir area at 6:45pm.
On Tuesdays 3/6 and 3/13, we will gather for a simple supper at 6pm in the youth room and begin the workshop at 6:45pm.

In some ways, this Scripture checks the boxes for a perfect Thanksgiving text. It talks about harvesting and God’s provision, and most importantly, it has the word “thanksgiving” in it.
Except when you read more closely, you see that it is more about giving to others than it is about counting our own blessings. It is actually more about sowing than it is about reaping. And very concretely, Paul has been encouraging the Corinthian Christians to give their money to support impoverished Jewish Christian saints in Jerusalem. The thanksgiving Paul mentions? It’s probably more about the gratitude of those saints who will receive that financial support than about the gratitude of those Paul is asking to give. Which is not to say that the more financially stable Christians in Corinth don’t have plenty to be thankful for, nor that they won’t benefit spiritually from their own generosity. After all, Jesus said “it is more blessed to give than to receive.” But if I am to reflect on THIS text tonight, the message is this: God has created and called us to be farmers who produce a harvest justice, peace, and thanksgiving in this world.
And if I am to preach THIS text to you tonight, here is my encouragement: when you ponder the question, “What am I thankful for?” this week, leave time to contemplate this just-as-important question, “How can I give others something to be thankful for?”
Ask: How can I get my material possessions to someone in need through Mustard Seed or a church or just by giving it directly to someone you know needs it—remember, whether you get to hear their “thank you” or not, God does and it belongs to him anyway.
Ask: How can I use my words or time or presence to let someone know that they are loved and welcomed and delighted in by God—and by me too?
Ask: How can I quiet my own voice so that someone whose experience of the world is different from my own can have their voice heard?
Ask: How can I loosen my grip on my own power and privilege and prosperity so that someone on the margins can be empowered and welcomed and prosper?
When I was in high school, a man named Luke asked my football coach if he could invite players on my team to stay after our team meal on Thursday evenings for a Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting. In the offseason, he rented out a local gym and played basketball with us and showed us and told us about Jesus. He sowed the time and the abilities and the resources and the Good News that God had given him in my life and in the lives of many of my friends. And I wonder if every time I offer my thanksgiving to God, if it isn’t another fruit in Luke’s harvest of righteousness, one more generation of crops from the seeds he and others sowed in my life over the years. Over the years, his obedience, his faithfulness, his generosity have resulted in countless thanksgivings from my lips and others as well.
As we give thanks to God this week, we add to the harvests of those who have shared God’s gifts with us. And may we also remember that we are Thanksgiving Farmers, planting seeds of generosity, sharing, and justice-seeking that will produce a harvest of thanksgivings from the lips of people around us. What seeds are we planting? How we are sharing God’s gifts, so that the world may reap a harvest of justice, peace, and indeed, thanksgiving?

You can register online at https://lightvbs2017.eventbrite.com. 
For a mission project, we are collecting both money and winter items (hats, gloves, socks, etc. for any age) that will be split up between Mustard Seed and Rebekah's Haven (a homeless shelter for women and their children). If you would have any questions or would like to volunteer, please call (419)726-7390.

As you know, this is my first call as a senior pastor. I served for three years as a part-time intern in Chicago while working multiple other jobs, which concluded with three months as an interim as the Sr. Pastor took a sabbatical. After a week to move and get settled, I began my ministry here at Point Place UCC. That was almost seven years ago. In those seven years, we have been on some adventures as a community, and I have not only been learning on the fly what it means to be a pastor, but also what it means to be a father (of 3 now!), and other life lessons as well.
Sabbath means “Cease” or “Stop,” and that is what it is time for me to do. To take stock of the last seven years. What have I learned? How has my understanding of my vocation as pastor grown in good ways? How has it gotten off track? What is God calling me to  as a leader in this moment? In essence: How can I serve GOD better? How can I serve YOU better? How can I serve the Point Place/Toledo community better?
I will indeed be taking time to enjoy my family in a special way. And I will also be taking time to interview and learn from other leaders I respect locally and more broadly via personal meetings over meals or virtual meetings through the wonders of technology. I hope to glean from them (and God) wisdom concerning  my own spiritual life, pastoring and leadership, and about the work of the church in an ever-changing society.
So this sabbatical is not just about me. It is about us.  And it is about where God is calling us to GO in this moment.
One of my concerns about being gone for a month (beyond just missing y’all!) is that any momentum we have in ministry or Sunday worship will be lost. Be assured, I will be finding opportunities to worship locally with sister churches. And the Leadership Team has lined up a wonderful  set of preachers and leaders to lead you in worship and gift you with some different voices while I am away: Pastor Emeritus John Rainey, Elaine Page from Grace Community Center, the Rev. Becky Przybylski formerly of New Harvest Church, a Gospel Choir that Susan Korecki is a part of, and the Rev. Joycelyn Degener.
If you have a pastoral care emergency while Pastor Jon is on sabbatical, please contact Cindy Franklin at the church during office hours, or Donna Serviss, 419-290-8134. She will then connect you with either Pastor Cindy Getzinger  (7/3-7/16) or Pastor Mike Delong (7/17-8/7)
Finally, I have been asked a few times: Does this mean you’re leaving us? The answer is “No. That is not what this sabbatical is about. This is an opportunity for all of us to refresh our spirits, hear different voices, and allow God to guide us into the next leg of our journey together.
In Christ’s Love and Service,
The Rev. Jon Komperda