Closer Every Day

Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

Lectionary Scripture: Deuteronomy 18:15-20 (NRSV)

I feel like we are close to the finish line.

I’ve had people in our church ask me when we are going to re-open our doors again.  I wish I could give a more specific answer but the fact is that we are going to start gathering for in-person worship again when the hospitals in our area are not so over-loaded.

One good thing I’ve heard is that many of our church members have been all over the state to get their vaccinations.  It would be interesting to put a pin in a state map for all the places visited!  I wish the process was a little easier for us but I imagine that we will become more adept at how we handle it.  There’s usually a learning curve to everything and this is our first time to try to vaccinate an entire population in a short amount of time.  Throw in the fact that the shots must be kept on ice and we need to make sure people get a second one for it to be fully effective and it makes me think we could be doing worse!

So as more of our population gets vaccinated, we should begin to see the rates drop because there will be less people to infect.

We’ve had a lot of grief in our church lately.  Beloved members have died.  Our congregants have lost members of their family.  It has been difficult and frustrating because we are so close.  When someone loses a loved one from what is now a preventable disease, it makes me ache.

So if it seems like we are being too cautious to some, please know it is done out of compassion.

I ask for your patience and to pray for those families that are grieving.  If our patience can prevent further grief, it will be worth it.

This Sunday, we’ll look at this scripture from Deuteronomy.  This comes from the time when God’s people were wandering in the desert on the way to the Promised Land.  It speaks of death and change.  People are not sure about getting too close to God.  They feel like they will die.  But at the same time, they recognize that they need God’s protection so they don’t want to stray too far.  It becomes almost like a dance for us.  We move in and out of our awareness of God’s presence.

As the people wandered in the wilderness, it reminds me of our own time of isolation this last year.  We remember the people then were frustrated.  It wasn't easy.  But they made it.

Or maybe as 2 Timothy indicates, it is like a race.  

Sometimes this feels more like our pace.

We are getting closer to the end of it.  We will get there and when we arrive, I want to do so with as many of our people as we can.  I’m praying for you and look forward to the day when we will all worship together in our sanctuary again.  Until that time, I invite you to join us online as we worship together.

We are close!

In Christ,

Sam

Photo by 143d ESC via Flickr.com.  Used under the Creative Commons license.