Dear Brothers and Sisters,
This coming Sunday is Pentecost Sunday on the church calendar. It’s the Sunday on which many churches give special attention to that great and revolutionary day when the exalted Lord Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit upon His people. I will be providing a reflection for you for this Sunday on Pentecost from Acts 2. As you prepare to gather in your homes or in small groups for worship, read through Acts 2 ahead of time and consider: in what ways has my life and gospel witness been characterized by the kind of power and equipping that’s described here in the Bible? Please pray for the Holy Spirit to be at work in your life and in the life of our church.
Hope for New York Update
In one of the briefings I sent to you in April, I noted that our church Council approved a gift of $3,000 from Christ Church to the emergency needs of the Hope for New York affiliates. Here’s an update for you from our friends at Hope for New York: “I just wanted to check in and give you an update on the HFNY Relief Fund, which ran during the month of April. 100% of the funds raised went directly to the affiliates. So far, we’ve been able to give out two rounds of grants (amounting to $375k and $133k respectively) through our Relief Fund to assist our affiliates with unprecedented needs that have resulted from COVID-19. Praise God! ….Your partnership is incredibly valuable to us. Thanks for the ways your congregation has partnered with us to come alongside our affiliate organizations to serve our city.”
Continued Prayers for Medical Workers
At the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis in NYC, we began praying for medical workers everyday during our noontime prayer call. Some of you sent in names of specific medical workers for us to be praying for. Please know that we continue to regularly pray for all those people by name. If you did send in a specific name for prayer and you have any updates on that person, please do let me know.
Joyfully yours in Christ,
Keith Paulus