1) Tomorrow is Pentecost Sunday where we celebrate the gift of the Holy Spirit for the way it comforts, challenges, and exhorts us.
2) A special Followers of the Way discussion will be released Sunday 5/31, with the pastors talking about racism as seen in the past week, in recent years, and historic implications for Christians. What does scripture call us to do to help heal?
3) The Vespers Service at 6pm Sunday will be a time to lift up prayers, including this nation's leaders. You can send prayer requests to prayer@palmaceia.org.
4) At noon on Monday we'll share in an interfaith National Memorial Service online for the 100,000+ who have died in the COVID-19 pandemic. The link to join can be found on our Facebook page.
5) From 12-12:05pm Monday our steeple bell will ring in remembrance of those who have died.
We hope you can join us in virtual worship and study, discussion, and prayer this weekend. May the peace of the Spirit of Jesus Christ be with us all.

​Prayer for the last day of school:
Triune God,
in your will our lives are lived,
and by your wisdom truth is found.
We pray for students who finish now a term of study,
and move on to something new.
Take away anxiety or confusion of purpose,
and give them confidence in the future you plan,
where energies may be gathered up and given in love to neighbors and a community in need.
We acknowledge there is lamentation, exhaustion and some grief at the end of this semester.
And we acknowledge that that there is also some achievement and celebration.
We ask that the friends and families whose thoughts and affirmations congratulate students
might be a sign of your love for them
and your good intentions for their lives.
We thank you for the fellowship of friends and colleagues.
We thank you for the labor of parents that these last 3 months represent.
We bless you for the good and heroic efforts of teachers and administrators and coaches in an ending for school they neither chose nor anticipated.
Christ have mercy and speak to all of us again your word of forgiveness. Bring to our memory the whole of the year and the hope in your future.
O God of the past, present, and future,
help these students to know that you will be active in the future as surely as you have been in the past.
For we pray remembering how the disciples called Jesus "Teacher,"
and how your scriptures teach us to
"Love the Lord our God with all of our heart, all of our soul, and all of our mind."
For we pray remembering how your scriptures teach us to
"Love kindness
Seek justice
And walk humbly with our God."
Amen.
-Pastor John DeBevoise

You can give to the online offering at palmaceia.org/giving
The weekly prayer list is online at palmaceia.org/prayer-list

Dear Friends and Members of Palma Ceia Presbyterian Church,

We arrive at a moment that is new to us all. Rarely have we had the experience of canceling programs for weather, but we’ve had to take that step periodically. Never have we had to find alternative modes of worship due to a pandemic. We now find ourselves at such a juncture where it is most prudent to cease gathering in person. We do not make this decision lightly or in fear, but in love and care for each one of you and the wider community.

Beginning today and for the next week, PCPC is suspending all programs, worship services, and meetings. We do not however cease being the church of Jesus Christ, loving God and loving our neighbor. We will continue to offer worship, though it will be virtually. Sunday morning worship, Sunday evening Vespers, and the Lenten mid-week services can be accessed through Facebook and www.palmaceia.org. Will Wellman’s Lenten book study will also be filmed and accessible digitally. The Bel-Mar community is joining us in online worship.

For the short term, how we live our call to be the church of Jesus Christ is shifting. However, the need to be the church has not decreased. Please remember to continue giving financially so we can continue the work to which we are called. Our financial demands tend to increase rather than decrease in times like these. You may mail your financial gift to the church office or give online.

Your pastors continue doing the work of pastoral care, though we increasingly will be carrying out some of this work through email and phone calls.  Please continue to let us know of illness, hospitalizations, and deaths. We want to pray for you and be present for you in whatever ways are possible.

We will continue to listen to what science is telling us is best practice, and will communicate with the body each week about the closure status.

In the meantime, take good care of yourselves and be kind and tender hearted to one another.

Trusting in Jesus, the Good Shepherd and the Great Physician,
Your Pastors
John (john@palmaceia.org or 813-293-9685); Nicole (nicole@palmaceia.org or 813-293-0715);
Ken (ken@palmaceia.org); and Will (will@palmaceia.org)

​https://pres-outlook.org/2020/03/prayer-for-wisdom-and-peace-as-the-coronavirus-spreads/?fbclid=IwAR1qZymGt76ABIL6E23xHRpI8JUxD5yARMlqTufs5nS7jZqzX7wPrvZS2fg

"God of all that is seen and unseen, our anxiety rises as the invisible coronavirus spreads. We worry about the impact of this illness on healthcare workers, older adults, those already physically fragile, the vulnerable among us and people whose livelihoods are tied to the regular movement of people and commerce. We recognize in this moment how inextricably connected we are to one another and we hope that this unmistakable realization will shape all our actions in ways that foster the common good, increase compassion and expand communal care.

As people is positions of leadership in religious communities, educational institutions, hospitals, government and local communities face difficult choices about how to address the complex challenges this virus brings, grant them wisdom and courage. Knowing that we are flawed and that our knowledge is incomplete, make us humble in our judgment, patient with one another, and gracious toward those tasked with the burden of making hard decisions in the days ahead.
Bring healing to the sick, strength to the caregivers, comfort to those who mourn, peace to those in quarantine and mercy to all of your beloved creation. Amen."

**Being good stewards of our health is an important aspect of our call as disciples. During this period where the global community is being called to be vigilant, we want to encourage and support each member of our community in being an advocate and steward for good health. To that end we will be making more worship services available digitally in order that those who need to remain home due to illness can still continue to participate in the worshipping life of the church; even if remotely for a period.**