Message from Pastor Karyn for May 2020
It has been an Easter to remember, for sure. More reflections will come as rest and space for thinking do their work but tonight I’m thankful that I have a job, a warm house, people I love and who love me and that I am still inspired each day to love and care for others, by so many of you. This is a time I will point to for the rest of my life and say, “It was scary, but fear didn’t win and here is why” and I will tell the stories of the people I am lucky enough to call colleagues and friends. I will tell the story of how we Eastered in the middle of a pandemic, how we were still church even when we weren’t in our church buildings, how we loved our way through a crazy topsy turvy world and together made the best of it. So, tonight, I suppose I am most thankful for you all. Blessed be, dear ones. Thanks for being beautifully you. ♥︎ ~ Facebook Post, Easter Sunday, 11:03pm
April 12, 2020, those words were from my heart. April 22, 2020, and they still are heartfelt. I have been awed by so many people who are loving their way through this unprecedented time. I think of my grandparents often, members of what is called the Greatest Generation. I wonder what they would say and think and do. I think they would be afraid but would pull on their experiences of war and tell us we do this thing together, it is the only way. We pull together, we encourage each other through the fear and we sacrifice things we never considered sacrificing—like our ability to move freely around the world, our vanity, our wealth or our way of life.
“This pandemic was not of our choosing. What is of our choosing is how we are going to respond.”
We are not a people used to having to sacrifice much. Sure, there are things we choose to go without, or there may have been a moment in our lives that felt like we were sacrificing so much for the sake of another, but truly, what I have come to realize, is those were (for the most part) of my choosing and relatively controlled and well, short-lived. This pandemic was not of our choosing. What is of our choosing is how we are going to respond. There are times when, for the sake of the whole, we are going to have to put aside our individual freedoms. There are times, for the sake of ourselves, when we will have to rely on others as we keep ourselves healthy and well. There will be much asked of us in the coming year—whether it be staying at home, wearing masks at the grocery store, figuring out how to support our local businesses, or making our way out of a global recession (again).
In these days I find myself more and more relying on my faith to guide me through—remembering I am loved, no matter what, remembering that I am called to live for the sake of my neighbor and to trust that through it all God is present in the fear and in the joy. In the days when it appears fear and despair are digging in and planning to stay awhile, I breathe deeply and remember Easter, I remember what this Easter was like and I give thanks for all the ways God and God’s people are seeing us through.
Until we are together again, dear friends, may you know God’s peace and stillness, may you know God’s love and hope, and in that knowing, may you choose love of neighbor over fear.
