The New Normal. . .For Now

by Rev. Eric Folkerth

Kessler Friends,

What does it mean to “connect” during a Pandemic?

What does it mean to “worship” during a Pandemic?

What does it mean to “be church” during a Pandemic?

These questions have been front-of-mind for all of us on staff and in lay leadership at Kessler Park these past few weeks. As I said in last week’s sermon, it feels like the situation is moving from something that originally felt like “summer camp” to something that feels a bit more ominous and long term.

We continue to hear the credible science that says the next few weeks in our city could be challenging. So, first, before I share any news of our community, I ask you to continue to PRAY. 

— Pray for all those affected by the virus, that they may recover.

— Pray for all first responders and medical personnel…especially our friends down the street at Methodist.

— Pray for city, county, state, and federal officials, that they might act together and share credible and scientific information.

Just….pray.

So, this will be a long update from me. And I’d apologize. But in this time, and especially with Holy Week on the horizon, we need to get this information to you.

Our Bishop has requested that we have no “in person” worship services through the end of April. This *could* be extended even further, and we will certainly keep you informed. He’s made it clear that he will follow the science from the CDC about what is “best practice.”

There has been some confusion about the local orders from our County Judge and Mayor, as opposed to a more recent order from our Governor. The Governor’s order seemed to open a door for religious organizations to again meet in public. After some clarification yesterday, it’s clear that all are in agreement: 

No in-person worship should take place for the time being, when livestream options are available. We obviously have good livestream options, so we will continue with this plan.

(And, I’m grateful to Bishop McKee and County Judge, who are working together to ensure that any smaller churches who struggle with livestreaming will be able to do so…)

Having said this, let me update and clarify our schedule and livestream events going forward.

Sunday Livestream Worship On Facebook Live

We will continue to livestream Sunday worship, via FacebookLive for the foreseeable future. I personally want to urge as many of you as possible to make the commitment to watch the service live.

Why?

Because of the “muscle memory” of being together at 11 am on Sundays.

Like “working out” every morning, brushing your teeth after meals, or praying before bed…our community’s goal is to make worship a regular “healthy habit” of our lives. Especially in this time of social distancing and isolation, regular routines will be important for all of us.

Plus, I am confident that there will be joy for you all to see each other’s names in the “comments” during the live worship.

Speaking of the “comments,” we are able to interact with you during the broadcast through the Facebook comment feature. You will be able to share prayer concerns and communicate with one of our worship team. And if we get those concerns early in the hour, we will fold it into the prayers that very morning.

Access to Worship on Facebook Live

I continue to hear concerns about Facebook Live…specially the incorrect assumption that if you don’t have a Facebook account, you cannot watch the service. That is not true. Let me say it very clearly:

ANYONE with internet access may watch our live worship or may watch the video of the worship at a later time. You do NOT have to have a Facebook account to watch.

Our Facebook page is like a “public” webpage that anyone on the internet can see.

Having said that, it might be challenging for folks to find the videos. Therefore, in a separate document, we will send step-by-step instructions on how to find our broadcast…or how to find the videos later in the week.

We are now able to project words and graphics in our worship video…so look for hymns and responsive readings in our upcoming services…with the words right there for you to follow along with!

(And thanks again for your kind comments about how those online worship experiences are going…)

ZOOM:

But, we also need to CONNECT with each other, face-to-face…even if it’s just “seeing” our faces. That’s why we’ll be using ZOOM too.

Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows our church members to connect via video and audio. We’ve already used it with about ten or so meetings and groups, and it’s working very well.

You use Zoom via any device: Desktop computer, laptop, tablet, or phone. And if you don’t have a video camera on any of your devices you can connect simply by voice call.

We will also make available step-by-step instructions for using ZOOM.

I urge you all to get set up with ZOOM as our worship on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday will BOTH be via ZOOM.

Online Meetings and Event Schedule, and Online Worship Page:

Yvonne has worked hard to create an online event schedule that lists all of our ZOOM meetings and during the pandemic, you should always be able to find our activities here:
https://kpumc.org/online-events

The "Online Worship" page assists those who watch our livestream worship:
https://kpumc.org/online-worship

Keep these two links handy for upcoming meetings and events.

OK…in the midst of all this….Holy Week is coming!

Let me briefly outline three worship services coming in the next week….and I hope you’ll note what we’re going to try to do here, because it will involve ways we can “connect” together, even in social distancing.

Palm Sunday:

Not only is this usually a special worship service, but it’s also a communion Sunday. We won’t have “palms” to wave to each other…but we’ll have the next best thing…

We’re asking you to cut a “live” green flower, branch, or leaf, and place it on your front door that morning. This is a way for us to connect together. And, truthfully, the Bible never says that people waved “palms.” It just says “branches.” So, actually, this will be more Biblical! :)

YOU will be the procession in each of your homes, as we worship Sunday morning.

Communion:

We will celebrate Communion this Sunday as well. Kay and I will lead the communion liturgy as we normally would. Obviously, we won’t have the “elements” of bread and wine with us. 

So…we invite your family to gather your OWN elements together. Bread, or crackers, or tortillas (Yes, I am bringing tortillas as my own bread to show you online…). You may use grape juice, wine, milk, or some other drink as well.

We will invite you to have those items ready to share as a community as we watch the service together.

Does this sound heretical?

All I can tell you is this. When I was a kid, one of the more meaningful communion services happened when our youth minister actually forgot the bread on a youth retreat. We ended up using Hamburger Buns for our bread. It was a powerful reminder to me that just as communion is a gift to us, so too are all our foods and drinks. God’s presence indwells them all…even hamburger buns with mustard on them!

Thursday and Friday:

My note to you is getting very long. Therefore, early next week we will send additional specifics about our Maundy Thursday and Good Friday services.

We will celebrate BOTH worship services via ZOOM. 

Maundy Thursday:

Thursday night, we will invite you to set up your audio/video around your family’s dinner table…because the original Maundy Thursday event was a meal shared with friends. We will have a short liturgy, and again share holy communion….very much as we will do Sunday….bring your own elements. 

Guess what? That’s what the original communion was! It was an add-on to a family mealtime for Jesus and the disciples. 

What will make this special and intimate is that we will be able to see each other as we take communion and share our common family dinner tables together.

Good Friday:

We will again worship via ZOOM. The service will be a series of the Gospel stories about Good Friday, and between each story we will hear different musical offerings from KPUMC members. They will be on ZOOM, playing and singing from their own homes too. Again, I think it will be special, beautiful, and intimate.

OK…that’s enough for now….

We will send more info on Thursday and Friday’s worship, as well as info on how to connect with Zoom and Facebook Live.

As always, feel free to reach out via email or voicemail at the church. Our system “dings” our phones and we can reply to you.

So….to the best of our ability, we answer those questions I posed at the start of this newsletter article through all the ways I’ve just described.

We will keep working hard to “be the church” together, even if that means just being online for now.

Grace and Peace,

Eric Folkerth

Ways We Can Still Connect

by Rev. Eric Folkerth

“Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel…”

Philippians 1: 27

This verse spoke to me this morning, as I sat down to write to you. It’s from a moment in  Paul’s letters to the Philippians in the first chapter. And it speaks of the yearning he has to see them, and the yearning they clearly have for him.

We are feeling that yearning right now, aren’t we?

We remain in the midst of an unprecedented “pandemic” and we are all taking steps to keep one another safe. That is why, once again this Sunday, we will not meet for public worship.

We invite you to find us on Facebook Live…either at 11 am Sunday, or at some point after that time. I know that not everyone has a Facebook account., but the beautiful thing is *anyone* with computer access can watch the video. Find us on Facebook HERE.:

And if you missed last Sunday, you can watch it HERE.

As you’ll see elsewhere in the newsletter, if you are watching live, we will have the ability to take your prayer concerns and fold them into Ken Kelley’s “Prayers of the People.”

We will also, as we did last week, provide a link to a bulletin that you can download and use to follow along…and we’ll provide other links during worship to try and make the experience interactive. We have the ability to “chat” with you during the broadcast….hopefully bridging some of the distance. (Again, even if you miss the live broadcast, when you watch at a later time, those links will still appear for you…)

Friends, while social distancing is absolutely the right call for us right now, we are aware of the isolation and challenges it presents. And, we are equally aware that many of us may face financial hardships in coming weeks, should the call to social distancing continue.

Let me share with you some steps we are taking.

Connecting During COVID:

We have volunteers who will run errands for those who are shut in and unable to get out. We intend to offer this not only to our members, but anyone in North Oak Cliff who needs assistance.

If you would either:

1. Like to volunteer to help, or

2. Need assistance yourself…

Please CLICK ON THIS FORM and we will be in touch.

Connecting Via Livestream
In addition to Sunday worship, we intend to have our staff “go live” for various devotionals and conversation time. Look for those on Facebook and announced by email.

Connecting Via Phone
Our staff is reaching out to people via phone, to check in with them, and to insure they are OK during this time. If we haven’t called you yet, feel free to give us a nudge. We’re happy to call you any time.

Remember that we are reachable via the church’s phone system any time. If you leave a message at our extensions, an app on our cell phones notifies us. We will then call you back at the earliest possible moment.

Supporting Local Businesses

During this crisis, I know that like me you are especially worried about those who are hourly-workers, whose businesses are temporarily shutting. We have many “local” businesses in North Oak Cliff, and many of us love to “buy local.” Several of you have suggested buying “gift certificates” from these businesses, to help support them during the shut down. That allows them ready-cash for now, while they are unable to be open.

Justice for Those Less Fortunate

Finally, I was honored to be a part of a group of clergy from Faith Forward Dallas who sent an urgent letter to our Mayor and County Judge. (I was honored to actually write the letter for our group…). Our request of these city leaders was the following:

1. A moratorium on evictions.

2. A moratorium on utility disconnections.

3. That this moratorium extend for 90-days following the end of the governmentally imposed request to stay at home.

As faith leaders, we believe justice and compassion dictates that we find ways to ease the undue burden on hourly workers and on the working class that this shut down creates. For us, this command comes out of Jesus’ command to love our neighbors as ourselves. (The 90-day extension will allow hourly workers a chance to have income before being asked to catch up on their bills…)

I am told that these requests were well received by our city leaders (As I know you’d expect) and that portions of them are already implemented as of this morning.

And finally, I would hope you would prayerfully consider continuing your tithes and offerings to Kessler Park during this challenging time. Our goal will obviously be to pay our essential bills for the building and staff, to allow us to bridge this challenging time.

If you’ve never given online, consider doing it now, and consider setting up regular online giving on our DONATION PAGE. Thank you for this consideration.

As of this writing, we are unsure just how long our public worship will be cancelled. Expect an update from me on this later in the week.

For now, know that God is with us. God walks with us in our isolation and our connection. The church is not a building, but people seeking to serve their community. This crisis challenges our ability to do this. But through creative ways, God’s grace, and patience we will move through this time, “whether together or apart.”

Grace and Peace,

Eric Folkerth

No Shame

By Rev. Eric Folkerth

The point of Lent is also to tear away the false and fake facades that we walk around with most days.

We remember that “we are dust” and that our time is short. Lent is a time to remember that there’s no time for hiding. And, there’s also no time for shame either.

Far too many people associate shame with God and religion. But what if God is the one who wants to take AWAY our shame, instead?

I think that’s the real truth, and I think its the truth of this week’s Gospel story of Jesus and the Woman at the Well.

Jesus asked a Samaritan Woman to go get her husband, to which she responded that she didn’t have one.

But, somehow, Jesus already knows this. In fact, Jesus says she’s had FIVE husbands, and the one she’s living with now is not one of them.

At this point, there is a lot that this woman could have felt a sudden shame about.

She’s been married five times.
She’s a Samaritan…somebody the story notes Jews don’t associate with.
And, she’s a woman…and men and women in that day didn’t relate to one another as equals. (Some things never change in the minds of some...)

All three of these things could have inspired shame in the Samaritan Woman or those around her.

But note that she has NO shame. Further, note that Jesus does not shame her either.

When she later says that she’s met a man who “told me everything I ever did…” It doesn’t seem like she’s saying this in deep remorse and shame.

Quite the opposite.

It sounds like she’s finally found somebody who accepts her for who she is, and is NOT shunning or shaming toward her.

My faith tells me that this is the real Jesus. This is the true God.

Jesus is the one who sees whatever our secret shames and secrets are. Whatever the things we try to hide are. And far from rejecting us, God loves, accepts, and liberates us from our shame. Instead of judgment and damnation, God sees our secret shames and accepts us anyway.

I know that that last line sounds like a platitude. It sounds like a throwaway preacher’s line.

But what if it really is a deep truth about the true nature of God?

What if God loves and accepts Samaritans and Jews?
Gay and Straight?
Women and Men?
People of all orientations and races?

What if God knows not only the five marriages of *that* woman, but also every other thing that you carry as secret shame?

And what if God loves and embraces us all anyway?

God knows “everything we’ve ever done.” But God loves us anyway. Yes, even that thing that just flashed into your mind...even that shame YOU carry.

There’s no more need to hide behind endless distraction.

So, let Lent be a time that strips away the distractions and reveals the real and true: YOU.

If your religion has always been about feeling shame for simply being yourself, the way God created you, then I’m sorry. That’s not the message God intended you to ever hear That’s a message other *people* distorted about God. That’s religion’s fault, not God’s.

There is a place of spiritual peace, available to you still, where you realize that God sees ALL of you….knows “everything you’ve ever done,” loves you anyway.

This Lent, consider letting that truth dwell deep within you. You are God’s good child, and God sees and loves you for who you are.

But you don’t ever ever have to hide, or forget your true self, just to try and please God.