While our church’s doors remain closed, our arms are open spiritually as we continue in the service of spreading God’s word. On this special Easter Sunday 2020 episode of the Shepherdcast, we will be taking a look at select verses of Psalm 118, Philippians 4 beginning at verse 4, and the Gospel of Matthew 28 beginning at verse 1. Following our readings, the Reverend Scott J. Anderson will be delivering a sermon on the joy of Easter, because as Josh Turner said on that “Long Black Train,” “don’t you know there’s victory in the Lord?” This sermon and the accompanying Bible readings were recorded on Thursday, April 9, 2020 with the accompanying intro and outro being recorded on Friday, April 10, 2020 for electronic distribution the morning of Easter Sunday, April 12, 2020.In case you are reading along with a Bible and our readings don’t necessarily match up with yours, we use the NRSV translation of the Holy Bible.Per the message at the top of the episode, please consult this blog post for more information on Refuge of Hope’s needs at this time: http://sotvchurch.com/2020/03/30/our-community-needs-help-now-more-than-ever-refuge-of-hope-in-need-of-volunteers/In a situation like this, there is a lot of misinformation. As it is our duty as Christians to serve our community and our world, we want to make sure all of our listeners have access to information about this virus from reputable sources. Thus, as promised at the end of our March 22 episode, the CDC has COVID-19 information at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html?s_cid=%20fb_covid_19. Additionally to what was originally promised in the aforementioned previous episode, please also consult the State of Ohio’s coronavirus information at https://coronavirus.ohio.gov/wps/portal/gov/covid-19/ as well as information from the World Health Organization at https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019. Our sermon and reading are recorded and delivered by the Reverend Scott J. Anderson. Special thanks go out this week to our church office staff and our congregation council, under the leadership of council president Jeff Ward, for their assistance in coordinating our church’s worship schedule during this time. This podcast was hosted and produced by Jacob H. Schandel for Shepherd of the Valley Evangelical Lutheran Church. To learn more about our church and how you can support us in our mission, please visit www.sotvchurch.com, or follow us on social media @sotvsandyville. Our church is a member congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can learn more about the ELCA at www.elca.org, and you can learn about our local Northeastern Ohio Synod at www.neos-elca.org.