Emmanuel Lutheran Church

State College, Pennsylvania

Important Announcement

Effective immediately Emmanuel Lutheran Church will be suspending all public gatherings until further notice.

This includes our Thursday Evening Lenten Vespers, our 9AM Sunday service of Word and Sacrament, and our Adult’s and Children’s Sunday schools.

Pastor Wilmoth remains available for visitation and home communion. He can be reached by email or by his cell phone.

Weekly sermons and Thursday Lenten devotions will still be made available online through our YouTube channel and in print via email.

The Emmanuel Leadership Team and Pastor Wilmoth did not reach this decision lightly, nor without prayer. However, in light of the CDC’s most recent guidelines urging the suspension of all gatherings of more than 10 people for organizations serving high-risk populations, we deem it most prudent to discontinue assembling together en masse.

This is not a decision motivated either by panic or fear. It is rather a proactive measure we advise taking for the sake of the health and safety not only of our congregation, but also our broader community, and especially those most vulnerable among us. When Martin Luther wrote that each of us is made, in Christ, “a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none,” he completed that thought by insisting, “a Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.” And this is a time to put the welfare of our neighbors first.

We appreciate some Emmanuel disciples may feel this assessment is premature. However, we are not in the least calling for the suspension of anyone’s discipleship, nor will we cease as a church to offer God our worship and prayer, but in our judgment the neighborly thing to do in these exceptional circumstances is to practice our faith in more socially distant fashions. By way of taking steps like these we can contribute toward “flattening the curve.” What’s called of us right now is not mere inactivity, but that form of courage which ancient wisdom once called patience.

Notice will be provided as soon as services will be resumed.  We will also be in touch with additional logistical information regarding the distribution of sermons and notes as the plan develops.

Lord, give us faith to go out with good courage.

Pastor Wilmoth & The Emmanuel Leadership Team 

P.S. Guidance from our NALC Bishop Dan Selbo can be found here.

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