Late Summer 2020
Dear Friends in Christ,
As I write this, our nation is still struggling with how to respond to a global pandemic, people are in the streets across the country demanding an end to racial injustice, and – though it seems like just piling on – wildfires are burning out of control, taking lives and destroying communities as they ravage the American West. Oh yeah, we are also in the midst of an election season that is one of the most divisive in our history. Common ground remains elusive. 2020 has been a remarkable year to say the least. So far.
We long, desperately, to get back to “normal”. Schools are reopening in fits and starts, retail stores and restaurants seem to be adjusting to a new way of doing business, and we are, little by little, emerging from our six month quarantine/physical-distancing with masks on and sanitizer in hand. And we are also wondering when can we re-open our church building; when can we worship together, in-person, once again. “When can we go back?”
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I don't want to go back!
Of course, I want us to be able to gather together again in our beautiful sanctuary. I want to be able to see your faces as we worship together, as we sing our hymns and pray our prayers. I want us to re-gather, but I don't want us to go back to being that same gathering that we were back in March. Because we are not the same. We will never be that church again.
When the Hebrew people finally broke free of Pharaoh's grip and fled into the wilderness, they wandered for 40 years. When they were hungry and thirsty in the desert, when they weren't sure that God was with them, we are told they longed to return to the flesh-pots of Egypt – to the way things were – even though things weren't so great. But when they had wandered long enough, learned enough, grew enough, they were a new people and were prepared for a new chapter in their life. And that is my prayer for us.
As we prepare to re-gather – when it becomes clear that it is time to do so – what will we carry with us from our own wilderness journey? As we have gathered remotely from our porches and kitchens and living rooms, what have we learned about who we are as people of God – as The Church – that we will bring back into our building when our wandering is done?
See you along the Way,
Brad
Dear Friends in Christ,
As I write this, our nation is still struggling with how to respond to a global pandemic, people are in the streets across the country demanding an end to racial injustice, and – though it seems like just piling on – wildfires are burning out of control, taking lives and destroying communities as they ravage the American West. Oh yeah, we are also in the midst of an election season that is one of the most divisive in our history. Common ground remains elusive. 2020 has been a remarkable year to say the least. So far.
We long, desperately, to get back to “normal”. Schools are reopening in fits and starts, retail stores and restaurants seem to be adjusting to a new way of doing business, and we are, little by little, emerging from our six month quarantine/physical-distancing with masks on and sanitizer in hand. And we are also wondering when can we re-open our church building; when can we worship together, in-person, once again. “When can we go back?”
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I don't want to go back!
Of course, I want us to be able to gather together again in our beautiful sanctuary. I want to be able to see your faces as we worship together, as we sing our hymns and pray our prayers. I want us to re-gather, but I don't want us to go back to being that same gathering that we were back in March. Because we are not the same. We will never be that church again.
When the Hebrew people finally broke free of Pharaoh's grip and fled into the wilderness, they wandered for 40 years. When they were hungry and thirsty in the desert, when they weren't sure that God was with them, we are told they longed to return to the flesh-pots of Egypt – to the way things were – even though things weren't so great. But when they had wandered long enough, learned enough, grew enough, they were a new people and were prepared for a new chapter in their life. And that is my prayer for us.
As we prepare to re-gather – when it becomes clear that it is time to do so – what will we carry with us from our own wilderness journey? As we have gathered remotely from our porches and kitchens and living rooms, what have we learned about who we are as people of God – as The Church – that we will bring back into our building when our wandering is done?
See you along the Way,
Brad