Twenty-Fifth Friday after Pentecost
We don't know how this is going to turn out. I am hopeful that with the vaccines and their soon distribution, coronavirus pandemic will be over by late next summer of early fall. its a long time until then.
We know a lot of the short term effects the pandemic has had on the Church: no corporate worship, no Sunday School, meetings on Zoom, pastors not being able to visit parishioners in hospitals or homes, no weddings, no funerals. There's a cliche, "the church is the people, not the building." The problem is that the church is the people--together.
I was watching a TV show the other night. A Pentecostal pastor was upset that he could not have in church or in parking lot services because of local restrictions on non-essential gatherings. Meanwhile, the hardware store down the street was going full-tilt on Sunday morning with swarms of customers in and out. The pastor wondered why "buying a new screwdriver" was more essential than worshipping. His parishioners and he considered church essential. He didn't even get to the church-state issue.
I read an interview in which a pastor worried that people are becoming accustomed to not going to church on Sunday. They start out watching Sunday service U-tube, then diminish to no church at all. Ecclesiastical laziness may be trending.
I haven't talked to anyone who thinks that the pandemic has made the church stronger. The questions are how much has it made the churches weaker and how much will the church be able to recover when the pandemic is finally over.
To be sure things are much better now than they would have been if the pandemic had struck in 1983 or earlier, before the age of the personal computer.
I don't know any new strategies for either now or when the pandemic is over, but I'll offer a couple of old strategies for now.
1. Do watch a church service on Sunday.
2. Develop a better personal spiritual life. I had hoped that many good spiritual resources would be coming out to help us personally. Perhaps they have, but I havn't seen them.
3. Pray more.
4. Read the Bible more.
5. Read some other spiritual literature
6. Give more, financially, if you can
I have a strong sense now that the pandemic will end at least by next year this time. We have and could probably have more strategies for dealing with the interim. When it's all over, make it a point to start fulfilling that additional church vow that came in 2008--your time, your talents, your gifts, your service, and YOUR WITNESS. When church gets back, look for who is missing. Give them a call, a text, or an email and tell them that you missed them in church. You could witness even more than that.
I need to hear from you. Let me know, either in comments or personal email, what you think, what you forsee, what we can do. My email address is: candmwilson401@att.net
Faithfully,
Christian
1 comment:
I am a member of one of the small groups (about 15 people) that sprouted up as part of UUMC's Kindred Ministry led by Pastor Daniel Childs. Our small group is led by Lianne MacGregor and meets every Thursday evening from 6:30 to about 7:30pm, currently using Zoom. We will switch back to homes meetings when the pandemic is over. The primary feature that I find attractive is the level of personal interaction that is possible with such a small group- we are able to keep up with each other from week to week in spite of having had to switch to Zoom and can quickly organize to safely contribute to service and other activities. Everyone gets to know each other personally through following an organized discussion format that starts with discussions and questions about assigned scripture passages, followed by open discussions about how everyone is doing at a personal level, and finally ending with joys and concerns plus prayers for individuals or groups individually brought to the attention of the group. Group members look forward to seeing and keeping in touch with each other; at least ten members of the group have met every Thursday since early spring just before the pandemic struck.
As small groups grow under the Kindred umbrella the plan is to spin off new ones (so as to keep to a modest size) that can be formed in consultation with and with help from Pastor Daniels. I think that there are also other small groups that meet regularly as part of UUMC. Members of the small groups under Kindred attend one or both Kindred and UUMC Sunday services.
For me the small group meetings are important for keeping in orbit around UUMC (even if elliptical) and getting to know a number of UUMC members at a meaningful personal level. Such regular, small group meetings help all of us cope with the distancing that we are experiencing and were also terrific before the pandemic occurred.
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