in the M church I serve was sad. Although we are meeting remotely every Tuesday morning, it is hard not to be together in person.
The Thursday before our last in person meeting, I had visited 3 parishioners in a care facility where I had my temperature taken and before it was closed down to all visitors. I am so thankful to have seen them both the husband & wife, and another woman and was able to bring them communion.
When I arrived home, I emptied my communion kit and cleaned out the plastic bottle that held grape juice. That act of emptying the communion kit and eventually putting the top back on the plastic bottle really hit home to me that I wouldn't be able to serve parishioners the grace of the Lord
that we all so desperately need. Especially as we head towards Holy Week with Maundy Thursday and Easter Sunday celebration.
It seemed like such a final act. There would be no communion for quite some time, whether at L church or M church. We wouldn't be joined to Christ in the same way. Yes, by our faith, by our love one another as brothers and sisters in Christ we are joined together. But in this act of Christ Jesus giving himself to us in love is what I will miss.. That tangible act of tender love and giving of himself that I can share with the ones I serve is just so profound.. It makes God's love for us in Christ Jesus
so real - a way to smell, touch, see, taste and feel.
I wept in my heart and felt the lump in my throat as the reality of our present situation and the threat of COVID19 become so very real.
I pray for the day when the threat is over, people have recovered and we can once again rejoice
in being joined together in Holy Communion and taste again the utter grace of the love of Christ.
After this unintentional fast from Holy Communion, may it taste ever more satisfying than ever before, more filling, more loving and dripping grace and joy. May it so fill us with the goodness of Jesus' love that we could burst for sheer joy, so filled with love for one another and for all the world that our hearts can scarcely contain it.
But until then, we fast and long.
Thursday, March 26, 2020
Monday, March 23, 2020
EVEN MORE QUIET
today than over the weekend. There are no school buses running to pick up kids noisily gathered on corners to go to school. The kids are all home as we are. Moms and Dads aren't shuttling their kids to school buildings, they are home. For some there is no commute to work, they are home. For others, there is no work, period.
And as we stay at home, it feels so oddly strange. As if we are waiting for the angel of death to pass and to pass over us. Every evening breathing a sigh of relief that we made it another day and stayed healthy. Every morning our first thought and prayer is for health. "Lord, may I not have the virus and may I have not spread it to anyone."
Is this how the Israelites felt that night in Egypt when the angel of death passed over their homes and yet was all around them. This will be a long night for us. Every day watching for symptoms, taking our temperatures, hoping and praying, I am not one. Anguishing with those who are and with all the doctors and nurses who are overwhelmed already and don't have adequate supplies. Praying
every time we go out to the grocery store that we won't get ill. Hoping our supplies last long enough.
It's the uncertainty of it all.
We are gripped in this pandemic and it feels like passover. Even our faith does not make us immune to falling ill or even dying.
May I give thanks to God for each day. I give thanks to God for the love I've known and known in Christ my Lord. I gave thanks that up til this present moment, I can still work, still serve. I confess my sins, my failings, my falling short, when I doubt or don't trust enough. That I wasn't a good enough pastor or wife or friend. Wasn't giving enough, loving enough, forgiving enough.
Ahh, but there is resurrection. In the midst of this Lenten darkness, we make our way to the tomb and discover, RESURRECTION. New life, eternal life. I pray for that day. Easter will come, not
just the date on the calendar. But EASTER, itself. I pray that I will be here to celebrate it, to revel in the joy of it, to breathe again and anew. But if I cannot, I will be still be celebrating the resurrection life with my Lord. For Jesus is the resurrection and the life. I will be more than merely a statistic, I will be home with my Lord forever. And I will be waiting for the rest of you to join in the feast of the banquet of life already happening and taking place where all God's faithful are gathered.
In the meanwhile, we live this passover each day, with the Lord by our side, ever with us, ever
loving us, grieving with us. Prayers are with you all and for all the world.
And as we stay at home, it feels so oddly strange. As if we are waiting for the angel of death to pass and to pass over us. Every evening breathing a sigh of relief that we made it another day and stayed healthy. Every morning our first thought and prayer is for health. "Lord, may I not have the virus and may I have not spread it to anyone."
Is this how the Israelites felt that night in Egypt when the angel of death passed over their homes and yet was all around them. This will be a long night for us. Every day watching for symptoms, taking our temperatures, hoping and praying, I am not one. Anguishing with those who are and with all the doctors and nurses who are overwhelmed already and don't have adequate supplies. Praying
every time we go out to the grocery store that we won't get ill. Hoping our supplies last long enough.
It's the uncertainty of it all.
We are gripped in this pandemic and it feels like passover. Even our faith does not make us immune to falling ill or even dying.
May I give thanks to God for each day. I give thanks to God for the love I've known and known in Christ my Lord. I gave thanks that up til this present moment, I can still work, still serve. I confess my sins, my failings, my falling short, when I doubt or don't trust enough. That I wasn't a good enough pastor or wife or friend. Wasn't giving enough, loving enough, forgiving enough.
Ahh, but there is resurrection. In the midst of this Lenten darkness, we make our way to the tomb and discover, RESURRECTION. New life, eternal life. I pray for that day. Easter will come, not
just the date on the calendar. But EASTER, itself. I pray that I will be here to celebrate it, to revel in the joy of it, to breathe again and anew. But if I cannot, I will be still be celebrating the resurrection life with my Lord. For Jesus is the resurrection and the life. I will be more than merely a statistic, I will be home with my Lord forever. And I will be waiting for the rest of you to join in the feast of the banquet of life already happening and taking place where all God's faithful are gathered.
In the meanwhile, we live this passover each day, with the Lord by our side, ever with us, ever
loving us, grieving with us. Prayers are with you all and for all the world.
Monday, March 16, 2020
TODAY
the 2 mile drive to church was eerily quiet. Traffic was so light, not many cars for a Monday morning when the school buses should have been making their rounds and moms and dads driving their kids to school. Sunday morning traffic was near non-existent.
Yes, we had worship Sunday morning with 21 folks and made changes - no passing of the peace, no passing of the offering plates, communion was forward with little cups, not tables, and there was no handshaking following worship. We forget to tell the the couple who did coffee hour not to do so. So there was coffee and snacks. Several stayed even a physician and her husband who were visiting from the next town over where their Lutheran church was closed.
I find that I am having to navigate differently in this strange landscape of isolation and separation. We are in exile, the diaspora of the faithful in the 21st century. I will be working with the church office administrator to try posting a facebook video and putting out website and facebook devotional minutes and thoughts, trying interactive where folks can post photos or comments on where they see grace in their day or week, things they are doing while social distancing, etc.
I have some learning to do!
I pray for our churches and faith communities as we find ways to stay connected and remember one another. To deliberately isolate and distance ourselves from one another is unnatural and moreso in our congregations when so much of who we are is about community. We have to redefine community or at least how to be community in this strange and threatening time. I pray God's Spirit be at work within us and all around us.
Funny, our Tues. night Bible Study just finished Presbyterian Women's Horizon study on God's Promise: I Am with You. It was such a rich, full, satisfying, encouraging study and generated good discussion reminding us of God's promise to be with us from the Old Testament through the New Testament. I can't think there would have been a better study to prepare us for this trying, challenging time than to hold fast to God's promise of being with us when we feel powerless or discouraged. I pray that those who attended are holding this study close to them.
I pray for all who are suffering, feeling isolated, lonely, grieving the loss of a loved one in our world. I pray for us all as we navigate providing spiritual care during this pandemic which for most of us is a new thing.
I see the crocuses blooming - a sign of hope. I know that Easter services may not happen this year, but Easter still happens. The miracle of new life and life after death is the crux of our faith. It's what
gives us hope to face today, to face this pandemic, to face tomorrow and we do so knowing that God is with us, ever, always.
Perhaps, when we survive this pandemic and see our way through, we, too, will breathe new life,
see life differently, feel the glory of freedom, relish again a hug, a handshake and coming together and being together may mean so much more. May we live for this day. May we look forward to this day and the Easter it will be.
Yes, we had worship Sunday morning with 21 folks and made changes - no passing of the peace, no passing of the offering plates, communion was forward with little cups, not tables, and there was no handshaking following worship. We forget to tell the the couple who did coffee hour not to do so. So there was coffee and snacks. Several stayed even a physician and her husband who were visiting from the next town over where their Lutheran church was closed.
I find that I am having to navigate differently in this strange landscape of isolation and separation. We are in exile, the diaspora of the faithful in the 21st century. I will be working with the church office administrator to try posting a facebook video and putting out website and facebook devotional minutes and thoughts, trying interactive where folks can post photos or comments on where they see grace in their day or week, things they are doing while social distancing, etc.
I have some learning to do!
I pray for our churches and faith communities as we find ways to stay connected and remember one another. To deliberately isolate and distance ourselves from one another is unnatural and moreso in our congregations when so much of who we are is about community. We have to redefine community or at least how to be community in this strange and threatening time. I pray God's Spirit be at work within us and all around us.
Funny, our Tues. night Bible Study just finished Presbyterian Women's Horizon study on God's Promise: I Am with You. It was such a rich, full, satisfying, encouraging study and generated good discussion reminding us of God's promise to be with us from the Old Testament through the New Testament. I can't think there would have been a better study to prepare us for this trying, challenging time than to hold fast to God's promise of being with us when we feel powerless or discouraged. I pray that those who attended are holding this study close to them.
I pray for all who are suffering, feeling isolated, lonely, grieving the loss of a loved one in our world. I pray for us all as we navigate providing spiritual care during this pandemic which for most of us is a new thing.
I see the crocuses blooming - a sign of hope. I know that Easter services may not happen this year, but Easter still happens. The miracle of new life and life after death is the crux of our faith. It's what
gives us hope to face today, to face this pandemic, to face tomorrow and we do so knowing that God is with us, ever, always.
Perhaps, when we survive this pandemic and see our way through, we, too, will breathe new life,
see life differently, feel the glory of freedom, relish again a hug, a handshake and coming together and being together may mean so much more. May we live for this day. May we look forward to this day and the Easter it will be.
Saturday, March 14, 2020
O GOD OUR HELP IN AGES PAST
our hope for days (years) to come.
I was simply astounded at the grocery store and W-Mart to see such empty shelves of paper products, pain relief, frozen veges, canned veges, peanut butter, etc. I usually do my shopping on Friday mornings and the grocery store had more people than usual on any given Fri. morning and there were check-out lines.
I can understand being prepared but this panic is unhealthy. How much can people hoard especially items that will eventually expire?
The man with 17, 700 hand sanitizers seeking to profit from this panic now has no where to sell them at inflated prices, taking advantage of a situation and vulnerable people. Donate the stuff back to the community and take a loss. It is people like you who prevent regular folks from being able to buy 2 bottles of hand sanitizers.
We are still having church services at L church since we don't make the 100 people limit. We are offering Sat. communion with individual cups instead of intinction. We are suspending passing the
peace. But we are still worshipping in hope in the midst of this pandemic.
We trust God who never fails us and who promises to be with us in all and any circumstances. May we be brave and courageous and still think of our neighbors. May we pray for the world and all who are ill, may we pray for families who will have their children home for the next 3 weeks, may we pray for doctors and nurses who are treating the ill, may we pray for microbiologist who are working hard to isolate this virus and find a way to curtail its spread. May we not panic or become too anxious, as we trust in the Lord our God. May the Holy Spirit lead us in creative ways to share hope and peace with the world. May families come back together to eat dinner around the table together,
have a night of board games and interact with one another. May they discover there are more important things than sports and all the other activities that so fill their lives. May they be lead to have good conversations and some quality time that bonds relationships forever.
There will be graces even in the midst of this far-reaching, life altering (at least temporarily) pandemic. May we look for and see the presence of God and those graces even in this. May we
spend time in God's Word, in prayer, in reconnecting with God and with our families. May this slow down of our lives bring us in touch with what is most important, most dear to us.
May stay healthy and well.
I was simply astounded at the grocery store and W-Mart to see such empty shelves of paper products, pain relief, frozen veges, canned veges, peanut butter, etc. I usually do my shopping on Friday mornings and the grocery store had more people than usual on any given Fri. morning and there were check-out lines.
I can understand being prepared but this panic is unhealthy. How much can people hoard especially items that will eventually expire?
The man with 17, 700 hand sanitizers seeking to profit from this panic now has no where to sell them at inflated prices, taking advantage of a situation and vulnerable people. Donate the stuff back to the community and take a loss. It is people like you who prevent regular folks from being able to buy 2 bottles of hand sanitizers.
We are still having church services at L church since we don't make the 100 people limit. We are offering Sat. communion with individual cups instead of intinction. We are suspending passing the
peace. But we are still worshipping in hope in the midst of this pandemic.
We trust God who never fails us and who promises to be with us in all and any circumstances. May we be brave and courageous and still think of our neighbors. May we pray for the world and all who are ill, may we pray for families who will have their children home for the next 3 weeks, may we pray for doctors and nurses who are treating the ill, may we pray for microbiologist who are working hard to isolate this virus and find a way to curtail its spread. May we not panic or become too anxious, as we trust in the Lord our God. May the Holy Spirit lead us in creative ways to share hope and peace with the world. May families come back together to eat dinner around the table together,
have a night of board games and interact with one another. May they discover there are more important things than sports and all the other activities that so fill their lives. May they be lead to have good conversations and some quality time that bonds relationships forever.
There will be graces even in the midst of this far-reaching, life altering (at least temporarily) pandemic. May we look for and see the presence of God and those graces even in this. May we
spend time in God's Word, in prayer, in reconnecting with God and with our families. May this slow down of our lives bring us in touch with what is most important, most dear to us.
May stay healthy and well.
Wednesday, March 11, 2020
LENT
In the middle of Lent and still working on Good Friday service, haven't started Maundy Thursday service, let alone Easter and Joy Sunday.
I did get an idea for May First Friday, so that is good.
I could just use a day this week to work. But serving 2 churches part-time with one church nearly 3/4 time doesn't leave me much extra time in a week. Still have to prepare Confirmation Classes,
and Tues. evening Bible Studies.
This coming Monday doesn't leave much time either. Work on sermon, council report, snack @ noon, leave for committal at national cemetery, back to church for brief remarks, prayer, & scripture, lunch, go home. Come back for evening council meeting with church redevelopment/mission statement discussion and then the meeting. Get home, do dishes, make salad for lunch next day, catch 11 pm news and crawl into bed.
Sigh.
That's kinda how my life is. I miss being able to reflect more deeply and fully. To allow the Spirit to work within me. Everything is hurry and go, go, go. I'm more of a plodder, ambler, stroller than a runner, sprinter, fast walker. I want time to reflect, to notice, to see. It's no wonder, I get so tired.
But we have bills to pay; mortgage, insurance - especially medical insurance which is nearly a third of our income! How insanely crazy is that?
Just feeling old and tired, used up and worn out.
Lord, help me to do all that needs to be done, to tend to the things and people who need tending. Grant me energy, enthusiasm and endurance for this Lent and Holy Week. Be with me. Amen.
I did get an idea for May First Friday, so that is good.
I could just use a day this week to work. But serving 2 churches part-time with one church nearly 3/4 time doesn't leave me much extra time in a week. Still have to prepare Confirmation Classes,
and Tues. evening Bible Studies.
This coming Monday doesn't leave much time either. Work on sermon, council report, snack @ noon, leave for committal at national cemetery, back to church for brief remarks, prayer, & scripture, lunch, go home. Come back for evening council meeting with church redevelopment/mission statement discussion and then the meeting. Get home, do dishes, make salad for lunch next day, catch 11 pm news and crawl into bed.
Sigh.
That's kinda how my life is. I miss being able to reflect more deeply and fully. To allow the Spirit to work within me. Everything is hurry and go, go, go. I'm more of a plodder, ambler, stroller than a runner, sprinter, fast walker. I want time to reflect, to notice, to see. It's no wonder, I get so tired.
But we have bills to pay; mortgage, insurance - especially medical insurance which is nearly a third of our income! How insanely crazy is that?
Just feeling old and tired, used up and worn out.
Lord, help me to do all that needs to be done, to tend to the things and people who need tending. Grant me energy, enthusiasm and endurance for this Lent and Holy Week. Be with me. Amen.
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