One year ago today I was drafting an email to you about the decision to move from in person worship services to Zoom video conferencing. March 15th, 2020 was our first worship service affected by the pandemic.
A whole year. In these 365 days, how many times has your heart broken open? How many times has your memory failed? How many times did you think, "I have nothing to look forward to."? How many birthday, holiday, and vacation celebrations have you missed? How many people have you lost? When we start to look at it all at once, it is overwhelming.
This pandemic feels different now, a full year later, than it did a couple months ago - even six months ago. Even with the hope that has come with vaccinations, we aren't through to the other side of this yet.
For me, a new level of fatigue has set in. Responses to my emails, texts, and phone calls are becoming fewer and farther between. Zoom meetings are harder and harder to track. The energy deficit left by the past year is no match for the handful of backyard hangouts I've had with friends this past week.
I'm not alone in these feelings. Your Guiding Council has decided to take a break from the meetings and plans we've been working on since January. This means scaling back across the congregation, maintaining Worship, Holy Week Services, Bible Study, pastoral care, this newsletter, and the Social Sessions Paula's organizing. Guiding Council meetings and Congregational meetings are postponed. Committees are encouraged to pause all non-essential work. The Guiding Council hopes that by the end of April or beginning of May, the weather will be nicer, more people will be vaccinated, and the organizing, strategic planning, event production, and committee work can move ahead via in-person meetings.
This is the season of Lent. It is a season of transition from winter to spring. We, as a congregation, get to use the next few weeks to mirror what's happening in the natural world. Rest. Let the growth energy of nature refresh and renew you. As the grass turns green, let your own life energy grow. As the days get longer, invite that sunshine into your soul. The Universe is conspiring to bless Broadway Church - let's be ready to receive it!
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