Last year, in this Time of COVID, many new challenges have been laid before us that test us in bold fashion. Right away we had to suspend our stable, dependable in-person services. Very quickly we had to discover and employ new, and in our experience, different ways of responding. This alone has led to asking what it means to be in communion with each other. That means something. That's a very big question. One group addresses what it takes for us to come together again. Another group is imagining the path toward new pastoral leadership and how we get to know that person. Another group is discerning what our ministry looks like in the near future and how that ministry is redefined and reconfirmed. And still another group meets weekly to determine the details and order of worship for each Sunday and seasons. Each of these efforts are challenging in themselves. But when all of them come together at the same time as the Time of COVID, a time when we cannot meet together, it makes the collective a most difficult challenge. Then comes Zoom and all the technologic growth that is required, but also an amazing opportunity for recreating ourselves and finding new ways to express our faith in each other and in our God.

Notice, though, how actively and creatively this congregation responds to each and all of these marvelous challenges. New ways of behaving have emerged. We even talk to each other in a more inclusive manner than before this Time. In our Zoom fellowship hour each Sunday we see and talk to everyone together. Old formal coffee hours were more often than not shared with one or two or three others rather than with everyone. That means something. That's a very big thing. And that alone will affect how we see each other into the future.

Our worship services are increasingly more effective because of our tech and worship teams working constantly to provide a more professional presentation each week. They have been the beneficiaries of technological advances and availability of equipment to meet the demand. Some private donations and the Grace Foundation have responded with much needed support at most critical times last year. And we move on in more exciting ways.

Consider for a moment. Our abilities as a congregation are extended in marvelous ways through the foresight of people and generations before us. This is exactly why the Grace Foundation was created many years ago and still enacts the wishes and dreams of former generations. One of the founding principles of the Foundation is to provide support for the church's mission in ways that are

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