{"id":23848,"date":"2020-03-15T17:10:25","date_gmt":"2020-03-15T21:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=23848"},"modified":"2020-05-21T12:04:08","modified_gmt":"2020-05-21T16:04:08","slug":"the-sunday-when-nobody-came-to-church-3-15-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pitmanumc.org\/wp\/?p=23848","title":{"rendered":"The Sunday When Nobody Came to Church (3\/15\/20)"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Sunday March 15, we were planning to observe the 3rd Sunday in Lent and to give a nod to St. Patrick’s Day.\u00a0 This was also to be the day when the Mary Circle would distribute soup to the people who ordered them.\u00a0 But then the Coronavirus pandemic came out, and we had to change plans.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

But life goes on.\u00a0 God is ever present, and He gave us the resources and ingenuity to work things out.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Worship Service<\/span><\/h3>\n

Attended by no one, but seen by many…<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Pastor Jim noted that a pastor’s ever-recurring nightmare is a scene where they get up to give their sermon and nobody is in the pews.\u00a0 On Friday we made the decision to abide by the expert’s recommendation to avoid large gatherings.\u00a0 The virus is spread between people and our congregation includes many elderly folks who are especially at risk.\u00a0 So, we decided to play it safe and issue the unthinkable message:\u00a0 Don’t Come to Church!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Instead, we conducted a service to an empty sanctuary which was seen only by our Live Stream camera.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\t\t