It has a been a strange year is so many ways with all the ramifications of Covid 19. There have been stay at home orders, the cancelation of large gatherings, wearing a mask everywhere we go, the closure of restaurants and bars, the move to online school, quarantine of nursing homes and retirement communities, etc. Certainly it has affected our church and churches all the across the country. We have done zoom worship with no sanctuary worship since last March! Thankfully, to date, no one at the church has come down with Covid 19. It has been a time when we have come to realize how much the little things in life mean to us. It has been a time when we’ve drawn closer together as families, friends and neighbors and perhaps closer to God. We have all been in the same storm. It has been a time when we have been reminded of the value of health care workers, nursing home staff, grocery store clerks, factory workers, teachers, and truck drivers. and so many more.
Through all this Faith Church has continued to function, albeit in a very different way. We’ve all learned how to zoom and as bad as social distancing has been we are thankful for technology that let’s us at least see and hear each other and stay in touch. We’ve continued to worship, pray, had meetings via zoom, work at the SOS Food Bank, hold confirmation classes via zoom, put out the newsletter, contribute to mission projects near and far, and do the work to prepare for looking for a new minister.
Now we are about to regather for worship in the sanctuary even as we continue to offer the worship service online for those who need to or choose to stay at home. It still will not be “normal”. There will be no singing, or passing of the offering plates or communion plates, or hospitality and conversation afterwards. We will have to wear masks and maintain social distance. We will have to sanitize surfaces and so much more BUT we will be able to gather, at least for now. We will be able to worship and praise God TOGETHER in the same room, if not in the same pew. It will be a sign of at least partial normalcy returning. At this point we will all take what we can get or “normalcy”.
We do so with the knowledge that we are not out of the woods yet. If the covid 19 numbers go up locally we will have to return to doing worship just on zoom. We won’t be out of the woods until a vaccine has been widely distributed and a large plurality get it. This is not likely to happen until sometime next year, if we are lucky by late summer or early fall. Meanwhile faith, hope and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love.
Grace and Peace, Pastor Scott
