Hi First Presbyterian Church,

It’s time for our Mid-Week Meet-Up! This weekend is Palm Sunday and the beginning of the sacred time of the year we call Holy Week. I’m sure many of you have been looking forward to Palm Sunday and the tradition we’ve had recently of hearing our choir lead us in a cantata during the 10:30 am service. Unfortunately, we will be postponing this year’s cantata to a date later in the Spring.

At the end of last week, our music director Dr. Jared Chase sustained a serious knee injury while on a backpacking trip with his children. He is under strict orders to refrain from work (including conducting) until his care team has a better understanding of what he’s dealing with. He and I discussed numerous options of how to move forward with the Palm Sunday cantata without Jared, but we ultimately decided that postponing was the best option. With so much practice and preparation having been put into the cantata, Jared, Bruce, and I feel that we want the choir to be able to give their best effort in presenting the cantata in worship to God by postponing it. We will plan a date for as soon as feasibly possible to reschedule the cantata.

Since we’ve already been advertising that this Sunday’s worship services will happen at 8:30 am and 10:30 am, we will keep the second service at 10:30 but will follow our normal order of worship. Please keep Jared and his family in your prayers as he recovers.

On another note, I was grateful that many of you got to meet Pastor Heritage Munyakuri on March 15. He is the pastor of El Shaddai Church, which is made up of mostly refugees from Central Africa. You had the opportunity to learn about El Shaddai’s love for Christ, their tutoring program for children, and their program helping adults move toward stable work and independence. It was wonderful to see some of you at their prayer gathering on March 21 and their worship service on March 22.

Don’t forget that you are invited to come to observe their tutoring program on Wednesday, April 15, from 5:00-6:30pm at the Gates Presbyterian Church. If you plan to attend this field trip, RSVP to connect@pittsfordpres.org.

God is always good.

Peace,
Aaron