Pastoral Letter IV - 24 March 2020

March 23, 2020
Tuesday of the Fourth Week of Lent

Dear Good Shepherd Church,

In greet you in the Name of and with the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ!

On Monday, March 23, Governor John Bel Edwards ordered a statewide "stay at home" mandate for Louisiana in the wake of the current COVID-19 crisis. As of this writing, Louisiana is exhibiting the fastest growth rate of the coronavirus of any state or country in the world. (Go back and read that sentence again!)

As such, I am writing to implore you to heed the Governor's mandate and remain home except for leaving your house for groceries, medical appointments, picking up "to go" food, exercise, or checking on a loved one--and then, PLEASE practice appropriate social distancing.

What About Church?

On Sunday, March 22, Good Shepherd Church streamed on 10:00 AM service online. If you did not see the service, you may watch it online on the GSC YouTube Channel. https://youtu.be/Sp439Sr-V0w

For the immediate future, in keeping with the Governor's mandate, all events at Good Shepherd Church remain suspended. This includes all regular worship services. Sunday morning services will continue to have a presence online each week and you will be notified by email and via our social media streams as to the URL for each particular service. You may also consider subscribing to our YouTube channel and clicking the bell to receive all notifications.

In my letter to you last week, I spoke about daily prayer time in our sanctuary. Unfortunately, Monday, March 23 marked the last day we were able to offer this time to 10 parishioners at a time. Again, we are heeding the Governor's mandate and encouraging you to do the same--stay home.

If you are in need of anything that I can assist you with, please do not hesitate to call me at home, on my cell, or at the office. Even though the office is closed, all voicemail will be forwarded to me. You may also reach me via email. If you are a member of our parish and you do not have my personal email address, simply reply to this email and I will respond to you with my personal email address.

Finally, know that each day I am praying for you and your family. I am also attempting to call some of you each day on the phone just to check on you. I have also been blessed by our Council President Margaret Aucoin also calling members to check on them. But again, if you need anything, I encourage you to call, email, or even use the form on our website to reach out and I will get back to you as quickly as possible.

The Lord bless you and yours in the Almighty Name of God: [+] the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In service to our Lord and His Church, I remain your humble servant,

The Rev'd Randall M. Graf
Pastor