Dear Mt. Horeb Family,

God’s peace and love be with you through Christ our Lord!

We hope this communication finds you well and able to make necessary adjustments. As we continue to live into this new reality of life during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mt. Horeb’s pastors and Council met recently to think forward our part in helping to support our families to stay well and ‘reduce the curve’ in our state and country. As a people of faith, we hold to Christ and his teachings of health and wholeness and love. God accompanies us through this tough time and works to grow the fruits of the Spirit in our lives.

Guided by the actions of the Governor of SC, our school authorities, and the updated COVID-19 information from the CDC, we have decided to extend our suspension of Worship and gathered activities through the end of April. At this time, our HOPE would be to worship together as a congregation on May 3. We will communicate updates on our website, Facebook page, and with email blasts.

We would also like to encourage the following practices during this time:

• Participate in daily Lenten Devotions and Sunday Worship on Mt. Horeb’s FB and YouTube pages. God nurtures us as we Worship & Learn, Witness & Serve.
• Support our ministry and membership through prayer each day. Check on others! Stay safe, be diligent with hand washing, use social distancing, stay home if possible.
• Continue providing your tithes and offerings through mail or online. We are currently working on a new electronic giving path and will let you know about it as soon as possible. It is important to each of us to continue to give to God’s ministry.
• All Ministry Teams and small groups are encouraged to meet electronically (Zoom, phone, email, FB, etc.), with ministry Teams reporting back to Council before April 19.

The office staff is currently working from home and checks for emails and phone messages. For pastoral care emergencies, please contact Pastor Hill (803-331-7331) or Pastor Joanna (864-992-1246). Also understand that local nursing homes and hospitals have enacted no visit policies.

Finally, I want to share a thought I read from NC Bishop Tim Smith after a recent return from a 6-week Sabbatical. It gave me an affirming perspective on God’s providence:

First, God has got this. All of this. With or without me or my voice or perspective. Second, God’s got me and those I love. Whatever the future holds, God holds that future, and God holds me, holds you, holds the Church. Not only do I not have to fix its brokenness; I can’t fix its brokenness … Strangely, sort of on a spiritual level, I had a revelation that I borrowed from the social justice world. ‘Think globally. Act locally.’ Big pictures, in a world consumed with self and steeped in sin, don’t allow a lot of wiggle room for hope. But small things, even down to little random acts of kindness, matter immensely. Put another way, ‘Don’t fret about what you can’t do/change. Focus, with God’s help and in God’s power, on what you can.’

I am sure many of us have had this thought on some level. It is a reminder to me how God is God and we are creation, called and gifted to participate in God’s experiment to love through compassion.

The world we have is not something we created on our own, it is from God. The peace we share is not something we muster on our own, it is from God. All we have is gifted from God. May you and me focus, with God’s help and in God’s power, on what you (we) can to honor and celebrate God’s gift of life.

God’s Peace+

Pastor Ralph Hill,

Pastor Joanna Gragg, and the members of Council