Good day siblings in Christ,
I have one important announcement and one fun announcement this week, so I will lead with the fun announcement. Now that all of the presents are unwrapped and Santa has delivered, perhaps there is a fruitcake that is not so desired or a candle that makes you wonder if the person really likes you or you got nine dish towels and you only need six. Well, on January 16 during coffee hour, we will have our first Great Our Saviour Gift Swap sometimes known as Yankee Swap or White Elephant. It is very simple: bring a less than $10 gift which has been wrapped or bagged (so you can’t see inside). We will throw them on a pile, draw them one at a time, keep them wrapped until the end (yes, it is more fun, trust me), and then open to see what we got. It is a late, late Epiphany celebration!
This leads me to my next announcement. I will be away on two different educational experiences from January 3-14. The first week is a seminary class on abuse and assault (heavy topics, but in ministry, sadly, very real) and the second week is a leadership training, which will happen four times during the year. This means I will be unavailable for calls, emails, or texts. The first week, you may see me around as it is a Zoom class, but I really am not there, if that makes sense. It is strange living next door to the church and sometimes for a change of view, I will use my office for class. Just pretend I am not there. The second week, I will be really unavailable Monday-Wednesday afternoon.
On January 9, Lee Ann and Jamie will be leading worship and there may not be a stream that day. We are working on it. Streaming will only be on Facebook for a while, as Zoom didn’t have anyone for a number of weeks and we never got YouTube working correctly.
Pastor Johnson