A Letter from Pastor Cherie:
Yesterday (July 4th) was our first day to meet back together, in-person, as church. I have no scriptural message for the day because we focused our entire time on just talking together – talking about a great number of things. After praying together, we began with an extended check-in centered on how are we, individually, doing at this point in the great upheaval that has been the past few years?
Living as we do, here, in the middle of wildfire country, many of us already suffer some level of trauma from threats to our homes (and lives), repeated evacuations, and general fear during bad fire years. Then add on to this a world-wide pandemic and more fear and uncertainty, followed by a sixteen-month long lockdown and isolation. All of this then took away one of the supports we count on – our church community -- as we were used to thinking of it.
It is no wonder we are like people who’ve been living in a cave for a long time – stumbling out into the light again and unsure what to feel.
So we talked.
We talked about what we lost and what we gained. We had to learn so many new things so quickly. We learned YouTube, we learned Zoom, we reverted to snail mail (and discovered one of our biggest blessings in that old form) and phone calls. We talked about what we missed about church as it used to be. We talked about what we found of value in on-line church, in videos, in letters and phone calls (and I’m grateful to be able to say that there were things that were valued and helpful – including some that we don’t want to give up now that we have a chance to “return to normal”).
It’s going to take some time and probably trial and error as we find a new way to be church – church that reaches out into the new normal of the world around us. Not all the people who count themselves part of this church community live in this geographic community. Meeting in-person will always be an option for some, but not all. How do we include everyone? How do we connect with everyone?
We are not the same people we were a year and a third ago – how can we be the same church? How can we become a new kind of church? We won’t always just talk. I’m sure that our in-person gatherings will eventually return to something like the old way we used to do it (we totally forgot to receive an offering yesterday, which made us laugh when we finally realized it). But the conversations will continue and we will continue to reach out to those who are not connected to us geographically – I, as pastor, just have to work out just how that will work. It feels a little daunting sitting here today typing this, but I do not doubt that we will figure it out – and I have no doubt that what we create will be even better than what we lost.
After all this talking we gathered at the table, and that was one of the most moving parts of the day -- to be able to share -- physically -- Bread and Cup, as we have so many time for so many years.
Over the years this church community has learned to listen to the Spirit inside us, to make some hard choices, and to hear God’s loving guidance. Our little church is already a miracle. We see no reason to doubt that we will continue to reach out and be a miracle for others around us. We'll continue to reach out to our brothers and sisters, continue to serve the Lord as we are led, and God will lead us.
Thanks be to God. Blessing, All.
Yesterday (July 4th) was our first day to meet back together, in-person, as church. I have no scriptural message for the day because we focused our entire time on just talking together – talking about a great number of things. After praying together, we began with an extended check-in centered on how are we, individually, doing at this point in the great upheaval that has been the past few years?
Living as we do, here, in the middle of wildfire country, many of us already suffer some level of trauma from threats to our homes (and lives), repeated evacuations, and general fear during bad fire years. Then add on to this a world-wide pandemic and more fear and uncertainty, followed by a sixteen-month long lockdown and isolation. All of this then took away one of the supports we count on – our church community -- as we were used to thinking of it.
It is no wonder we are like people who’ve been living in a cave for a long time – stumbling out into the light again and unsure what to feel.
So we talked.
We talked about what we lost and what we gained. We had to learn so many new things so quickly. We learned YouTube, we learned Zoom, we reverted to snail mail (and discovered one of our biggest blessings in that old form) and phone calls. We talked about what we missed about church as it used to be. We talked about what we found of value in on-line church, in videos, in letters and phone calls (and I’m grateful to be able to say that there were things that were valued and helpful – including some that we don’t want to give up now that we have a chance to “return to normal”).
It’s going to take some time and probably trial and error as we find a new way to be church – church that reaches out into the new normal of the world around us. Not all the people who count themselves part of this church community live in this geographic community. Meeting in-person will always be an option for some, but not all. How do we include everyone? How do we connect with everyone?
We are not the same people we were a year and a third ago – how can we be the same church? How can we become a new kind of church? We won’t always just talk. I’m sure that our in-person gatherings will eventually return to something like the old way we used to do it (we totally forgot to receive an offering yesterday, which made us laugh when we finally realized it). But the conversations will continue and we will continue to reach out to those who are not connected to us geographically – I, as pastor, just have to work out just how that will work. It feels a little daunting sitting here today typing this, but I do not doubt that we will figure it out – and I have no doubt that what we create will be even better than what we lost.
After all this talking we gathered at the table, and that was one of the most moving parts of the day -- to be able to share -- physically -- Bread and Cup, as we have so many time for so many years.
Over the years this church community has learned to listen to the Spirit inside us, to make some hard choices, and to hear God’s loving guidance. Our little church is already a miracle. We see no reason to doubt that we will continue to reach out and be a miracle for others around us. We'll continue to reach out to our brothers and sisters, continue to serve the Lord as we are led, and God will lead us.
Thanks be to God. Blessing, All.
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