Dear Friends,
A year ago this month, March 22 to be exact, we moved from a full sanctuary on Sunday morning to a live streamed service in the blink of an eye. We all thought the change was very temporary and we would be back for Palm Sunday or Easter and move on with our normal lives Covid-free. We have been online for a year of worship, Bible studies, Sunday school, special days and a full year of milestone events.
Most of us ache and yearn to be back together. We hear the news that we can legally open our doors and we are ready to pick out our outfit for our first Sunday service back together again. Believe me, I am yearning just as much as you are. Seeing faces on a screen instead of in person, missing all the handshakes and hugs, and cancelling some of my favorite events has me fatigued and stir crazy. But it is still too early.
I remember one year when I was teaching preschool and caught the flu. I was in bed for days and when I felt better, I tried to go back to work. Not long into my day I was sent back home, because my body wasn’t ready. Again, the next day I felt better and went back to work, only to get sent home again with instructions to stay home the rest of the week to fully recover.
I know the waiting is hard, especially since we have waited a year, but patiently waiting a little longer will help ensure that we are fully ready, that returning will not cause another spike, and that our return will be permanent and not temporary.
Stop by church on Palm Sunday, March 28 between 10:30 and 11:30am for a special Holy Week kit for Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Services will all be online (Facebook and YouTube), but the Holy Spirit will be with you in person.
Holy Week reminds us of the longest wait, between Good Friday and Easter morning, those hours and days when Jesus was absent from life, but they remind us that at the end of painful waiting comes the beauty of Easter morning. We have done this for a year, we can make it through a little longer and we will find the beauty of being reunited soon enough.
Blessings, Pastor Stacy