Dear friends,
“When can we go back to the way it used to be?“ That question has been on my mind since mid-March. It’s a question for which we don’t have an answer. And I’m beginning to realize that it’s not even the right question to ask.
Our lives have changed drastically in the last two months. Children and college students are home from school. Some adults are out of work; some are working from home; some are working twice as hard in dangerous conditions. Many of the events and programs we treasure as a church have been canceled. We miss singing together, sharing meals, shaking hands and giving hugs.
In the midst of change thrust upon us, we have adapted quickly. Remote worship is different; even so, we are discovering we can still be community, and that we can even expand to include people who have not previously been able to attend. Our children look forward to weekly packages and showing off their favorite pajamas in Sunday School. Bible Studies, Lunch Bunch, Music Appreciation, Seeds of Grace virtual worship, Open Spirit live-stream yoga and Qi Gong—we have learned new ways to connect with each other.
I remember back in March, when the Southern New England United Church of Christ conference ministers recommended we move to virtual worship for two Sundays. Now, eight weeks later, we realize how little we know about what lies ahead. We know we need to continue virtual worship for the near future. We also know that returning to any kind of in-person gatherings will be a slow, gradual process, and that we will need to be creative about ways to stay healthy and be inclusive of people with different vulnerabilities to COVID-19.
There is no going back to the way it used to be. There is only going forward to new ways of being church together. That makes me sad, for I love what we have had. It also makes me hopeful, for I love what we are discovering right now about who we are. If we are thoughtful and faithful, the new ways we develop will reflect both what we treasure about being together in person and what we are learning in this challenging time.
How do we begin to plan for the future, when there are so many unknowns? We can’t really plan in our usual ways; timelines feel premature and probably counter-productive. What we can do now is a crucial process of preparation: reflecting on the things we are learning during this time and beginning to envision how those learnings can help us as we move forward.
At our April Church Council meeting, we decided to hold a series of small-group virtual gatherings to begin that reflecting and envisioning. These are not planning or decision-making meetings. They are opportunities for us to identify what we are learning, articulate the values that will shape our moving forward, and begin to claim the promise of new life that will emerge from this time.
Please plan to sign up, zoom in or call in to these gatherings. They may well be among the most important things we do together in this time.
Peace,
Debbie