Thursday, March 19, 2020

To all at Faith Moorpark,

With much prayer, I write this to you.

After hearing the effects of COVID-19, the CDC issued a nationwide advisory recommending that Americans should not gather in groups of more than 50 people. This week, the White House recommended limiting group gathering sizes to 10 people. The pandemic is a reality that we cannot ignore. And through it all, the fifth commandment continued to be on my heart and mind.

The fifth commandment explanation:

What does this mean?
We should fear and love God so that we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body, but help and support him in every physical need.

The question is, “how can I help and support those around me?”

As contagious as this is, it is very important that we make our best effort to limit the spread of the virus. For those who are immuno-compromised, to the high risk group [elderly], and how this contagion could possibly cause a capacity issue within our local hospitals, it is important to dwell upon the needs of others at this time. Yes, it has been a challenging time to discern what to do in the midst of this crisis. Jesus says in Mark 12,

“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Remember this is not a decision made out of fear, but rather out of love for neighbor. I know we need to gather together [Heb10:24-25] as we receive the Lord’s Word and Sacrament [Rom10:17; Acts 2:42-47; Matthew 26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20; 1Corinthians 11:23-25], yet we must take into great consideration of the community at large.

With the support of the elders and the council, it is with a heavy heart to announce that we will cease “in” church activities for at least the month of March. This was not an easy decision but one that was prayerfully made. Also, all non-Sunday worship activities-bible studies, Sunday school, etc.-are cancelled until further notice.

You may ask, “Pastor, what about our spiritual needs?”

An important question to be asked! Of course, we continue with our Facebook Live services- Wednesday midweek [7pm] and also our Sunday services [9:15am]. All services will be held online. We know that now is time to be in the Word. I cannot emphasize that enough. I urge every one of you to set aside these worship times and worship with your household together. Whether it be at the coffee table or on the couch or at your desk [along with your children], use this time as if you were physically at church. Now is time to dwell and focus with your family on the word of God: the one thing that is needful.

This week we will be going around and dropping off hymnals at your front door. We will try our best to reach you but if we are unable, please contact me. Please use them until we return to our regular services, then bring them back with you.

Also starting this Sunday, March 22nd [and every Sunday thereafter], I will be available at church following the Divine Service until 2pm. View this as a continuation of Sunday’s service. I encourage all of you to partake in the “medicine of immortality” the Lord’s body and blood given and shed for the forgiveness of your sins. A timely gift it is! Come and receive the gifts! For as you receive the service of the Word electronically, the Body and Blood of Jesus comes in person. We will carefully follow strict social distancing precautions. If you are unable to come at this scheduled time, please let me know. I will gladly visit you.

Though this is a challenging time, may we unite as the body of Christ. We are a family as we are in this together. I encourage you to call each other as we support one another during this time. Go through the directory, pick up the phone, call or text and say “hello” as you check-in with your fellow brother or sister in Christ. Take this time to pray for one another, for the world, for our nation, for our leaders and take the opportunity to encourage one another in the peace of Christ.

Remember, we are victorious through all things! Jesus died and rose and has given us Life in His name. May this be your blessed confidence as you live in the Baptism that God has given you. I’m here for you and will continue to be here, only a phone call away [714-356-6321].

Key Takeaways

• Follow services on Facebook Live: Sunday Divine Service 9:15am, also 7pm Wednesdays
• Come and receive the body and blood of our Lord shortly after Sunday service.
• Follow daily devotions on Facebook Live: 9am
• Call and care for your neighbors that God has placed in your life
• Prayerfully and joyfully continue to give your weekly offerings as we continue through this unprecedented time.

In Christ’s Service,
Blessings to you all

+Pastor Jeong



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P.S. From Jeff - elder, video, tech guy, etc.

Here are some useful links and help on using them. Let me know if you need help with any of this and I’ll try to get back to you as soon as I can.

• Facebook Live - visit this link to view the latest live video. Join during our normal worship times (Sunday @ 9:15am and Wednesdays @ 7:00pm) to worship together online. You do NOT need to be a Facebook user to watch and you do need to log in.
• Sermons, Bible Studies, Children’s Messages - visit our website and tap on sermons to view the latest sermon page and past sermons. A high quality video/audio version of the sermon is posted a few hours after the service along with any supplemental material. On Sundays we also have the children’s message, and a pre-recorded bible study to continue with our Sunday bible study series on the Divine Service. A link to the live stream will also be on this page if it was available. You can sign up to receive an email the day after the service videos were posted.
• Slack - I hope you’ve seen my past newsletter articles about Slack. This is a great messaging tool to connect with one another remotely as a group and family as we are all now in this situation and mostly homebound. Please try and sign up, download the app on your phone or computer and let us know if you have any needs or prayer requests now or in the future. My hope is that we can use this to stay connected and the more that sign up and use this app the better and more useful it will be.