Announcements

Announcements for December

Worship Online only until Jan 17: For worship planning purposes, the Reopening Committee has decided to continue with online only worship for January 3, and January 10. January 3 is the 2nd Sunday in the season of Christmas, and January 10 will be the Sunday of Epiphany. This will allow us to include more music in these services. Holding worship online these 2 Sundays will also help us get past any post-Christmas spike in coronavirus cases that we may have. We will plan on resuming in-person worship on January 17, if case counts fall within our established metrics, with livestreaming for those who are uncomfortable attending in person.

(Public health experts have said that there may be a spike in cases for a couple of weeks past Christmas, depending on what transmission may have happened during any Christmas celebrations. Confirmed cases lag about 2 weeks behind dates of transmission, and rises in hospitalizations are 2 around weeks behind that, and rises in deaths are around 2 weeks behind that. Iowa was lucky enough to *not* experience this expected spike after Thanksgiving, but to be safe, we will wait and see what happens after Christmas.)

Council: The Congregational Council meeting will take place on Zoom on Monday, January 11th, at 6:30pm. Here is the Zoom info: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84625458213?pwd=UGEzOXFhT3RPOEk0LzBoTUQ0VVF4QT09

Meeting ID: 846 2545 8213

Passcode: 988631

Annual Congregational Meeting/Budget Hearing: The 2021 Budget Hearing presentation has been scheduled for Sunday, January 10, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. via a Zoom meeting for anyone who wishes to see or comment on the proposed budget for American Lutheran Church prior to the Annual Congregational Meeting. A link will be provided to attend the meeting when information is emailed for the Sunday worship services. Arrangements can be made for anyone who wishes to attend in person at the church by calling/texting Pastor Kristen at (563) 212-1366 or Maureen Even at (563) 880-8872 by 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 9, 2021. Social distancing & mask guidelines will be used while in the church.

This year we will be providing two options for the Annual Congregational Meeting for American Lutheran Church which will be held on Sunday, January 24, 2021. A person may attend either in person after the 9:00 a.m. worship service (if we are meeting in person at that time) or at 10:00 a.m. via a Zoom meeting. A link will be provided at a later date. The Snow Date for the Annual Congregational Meeting will be January 31, 2021 following the same time schedule as listed above.

Women’s Bible Study: Bible study January 7, 2020, 9:30 AM. Gather resource study “Journeys with Angels.” New friends welcome. Contact Pastor Kristen for a zoom link.

Worship and Music: met via zoom December 8, 2020. Joellen, Mary, and Shirley will use Sundays and Seasons resource to choose hymns for the assigned January-March 10 Sundays. Pastor suggested we choose two hymns per service. Pastor Kristen will look for a spoken Lenten service for which we will choose one hymn for each service. We discussed using the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians and Wartburg College vocal offerings for services.