 Well it has been a crazy couple of weeks. We went from the excitement of the Iditarod coming to a closed airport, city mandates, and an empty church building. One thing that is not empty though is the church. The church has LEFT THE BUILDING! We are still a community that is strong and spiritually healthy and need to use this crisis as an opportunity to grow in our faith and help others grow in theirs. Reports from around the world show many new people turning too Jesus and we will see this here in Nome.
As I am sitting here at my kitchen table, the spot where I have had church meetings, met with the choir, had coffee with people on during Coffee with the Pastor, and other various social online gatherings, I am thinking about the sermon series we were in and the next sermon series that is starting, "Fearless: Imagine living life without fear". The interesting thing is that I planned these series last year. I am also pondering the best way for us to stay connected as a church body. I Know many have access to the internet, at the same time many do not. The Nome Elementary School called all the families this week to find out who had internet and found out that only about 50% of the families had access. This means that those of you reading this probably know someone who does not have internet. How do we move forward? For those that have internet: We have Zoom meetings set up throughout the week. You can find the complete list at nomecov.org. Every Sunday we will be broadcasting our service on KICY and we will Facebook live on our Nome Covenant group page. Starting this Sunday, there will be a Bible study available on Facebook and the Website for family or personal reflection that is tied to the sermon. For everyone with and without internet: We have KICY service at 11am. If you do not have access to a radio, we have solar radios available. We are not encouraging gathering between households, but we are encouraging communication. I have spent the last few days making phone calls, reaching out to people, and it has been very well received. If everyone called a few people every day to check up on them, it would be amazing. Last but not least, 8pm every night is a time of church wide prayer. Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing at the moment, even if it’s just a short prayer, join us. If we come together for that one moment, we are coming before God as a body. Set your alarms for 8PM daily. a few logistical things: The leadership team made the decision that instead of indefinitely closing, we would base our closure on the school systems closure. Currently the schools are closed until May 1. If things change, we will adapt, but just for peace of mind for everyone wondering, we put a solid target on reopening. Because the church building was used by Alaska Missions, with people from all over the country, the Leadership team has decided that the building will be quarantined for 14 days from the time they left. This means there will be no access to the church until April 6. I do want to note that the team thoroughly cleaned the building when they left, and they did a great job of social distancing from the locals while they were here under the circumstances that they were under. Remember, as Max Lucado said in his book Life is Tough, “You’ll get through this. It won’t be painless, it won’t be quick. But God will use this mess for good. In the meantime don’t be foolish or naive. Don’t despair either. With God’s help you will get through this.” I Thess 3:16 “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times and in every situation. The Lord be with you all.” Pastor Chad Benkert
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