Friends,

This week I am experiencing a mixture of anxieties. Protests seem to have abated, but racism still exists in our communities. People are gathering and celebrating together with relaxed attitudes toward practices that prevent the spread of the coronavirus, while confirmed cases spike and our hospitals are approaching capacity for ability to treat patients. Churches in our community and across the country continue plans to regather for in-person worship, with crowds of much more than 50 in worship, wearing masks is deemed optional. And every time I hear someone say, “when this is all over,” I’m beginning to wonder if it will ever be “all over.”

The only way I know to deal with all of this anxiety is to turn my attention toward God and the faith I have that God will continue to guide us forward into whatever the future might bring. That’s why I am dedicating myself to asking, in my daily prayer time, “God, how do you want me to be faithful in this time, and in these circumstances, not later or when this is all over, but now, in the midst of these days?”

Systemic racism is not going to disappear from American culture and society any faster than the coronavirus! All I can do, all we can do, is commit to doing what we can to make our congregation, our community, and our nation, safer and healthier and more hopeful today and tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. It is only if we begin to take the necessary steps to slow the virus and to dismantle racism that we will be able to live toward hope for the future.

Stay home, stay healthy, stay safe!

Peace,

Pastor Jack