Dear Edwards Church Community,
“How long, O Lord, how long?” Psalm 13:1
I wish that I could say with confidence when the pandemic would end. Knowing that approximately 60% of eligible people in our area are fully vaccinated is reassuring about life in the Valley. Knowing that most of the church community and all of my family is fully vaccinated is also reassuring. Knowing that I rarely leave the house without a mask in my pocket and that I still wash my hands more often and for longer that I used to – all this gives me confidence that I am doing all I can to stop the virus and protect myself and those I love. What more can one person do to make this end?
Of course, it feels to many of us like we were encouraged to think of the pandemic as over just two months ago when the CDC encouraged the fully vaccinated to dispense with face masks. And it felt like the virus was in retreat when the Governor declared almost all restrictions over at the end of May. But that was then.
Now we have Delta, and as long as large pockets of population remain unvaccinated anywhere on the planet, Covid-19 will continue to adapt to the changing conditions it faces and generate new variants. That is, quite literally, how life goes on.
Some of us are angry, and some are sad. Some feel the accumulated grief of all that has already been lost because of Covid. We want our old lives back. We want things the way they were, and asking us to let go, asking us to accept that an invisible virus has effectively taken away life as we knew it, is simply something we are unwilling or unable to accept. Each of us, in our own way, will adapt (or not). We will find ways to live with it (or not), because that is, and always will be, part of life — adapting.
For my part, I find it helpful to acknowledge – if only to myself and God, on walks in the cool early morning air or the gathering shadows of dusk – what I am really feeling. The anger and sadness, the confusion, the struggling to reconcile recycling moods of hope and despair – my version of “Covid fatigue” in its various forms. Then I take comfort in dinner, sleep and doing it all over again. “So I decided there is nothing better than to enjoy food and drink and to find satisfaction in work. Then I realized that these pleasures are from the hand of God.” Ecclesiates 2:24
Whether we like it or not, the background to our lives now includes Covid-19. After all, the virus that drives the annual flu season – which we tend to greet like a change in the weather – is a recycling remnant of the virus that ravaged the world in 1918. The annual flu shots most of us get are modern medicine’s best estimate of what the dominant variants of the annual flu virus will look like that year. Whack-a-mole, meet public health.
I might let myself stew in my own foul juices over some of this, but then I remember that we – those of us with ready access to vaccines, food, clothing and shelter – have little to complain about in the grand scheme. We have our daily struggles. Some face life threatening illnesses or other conditions made worse by the pandemic. But that was all true before Covid. It only got harder.
And then I remember that we have each other. None of us is truly alone, however down we may get from time to time. However much we may miss the way it used to be. Life reinvents itself, and we are a Christian church asking God to show us a new way.
Psalm 13 ends: “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing God’s praise, for she has been good to me.” As is so often the case with the psalms, we are not told how. But we have each other to along the way, to help each other sort that out. And we will. Because that is life together.
In faith, with hope, for love,
Michael
From the Minister of Faith Formation
Dear Beloved of God,
I pray that during the summer, with its extreme and fluctuating weather, you and your loved ones experienced periods of rest, renewal, the holy around you, and fun. Elsewhere in this Spire you will see photos (with credits) submitted in response to the invitation extended in the bulletin announcements and the weekly message for the last several weeks to take a picture or offer a written reflection of where the Divine was experienced. With that in mind, I would like to invite you to engage in the spiritual practice of visio divina as you look at the photos that have been submitted.
Visio divina, from the Latin meaning “divine seeing,” is a spiritual practice that shares roots with the ancient practice of lectio divina or “divine reading.” Visio divina invites one to encounter the divine through images. Steps include:
prayerful gazing on a photograph, icon, piece of art or other visual representation
noticing a place on the image where your eye is invited to rest
responding to an invitation emerging within (perhaps connected to a piece of scripture, a song, a story, your own experience of the Divine)
resting in the experience of stillness and being in the presence of God
Danny Shanahan offers this reflection on the photo he submitted:
Mill River Poem
There is a river of light
running through the woodlands
of the soul
The path to this place is narrow
but do not be concerned
On the shore there is a boat
born of the breath of God
All we have to do
is step in and let
the holy currents of this holy song
carry us home
The invitation to email photos and or a reflection of where you experienced the Divine around you and email them to me (ffminister@edwardschurchnorthampton.org) continues. ** For a compilation of pictures from our Edwards Church community please see attachment **
Blessing of backpacks and devices – this annual blessing will take place during our hybrid worship service on September 12. All those headed off to any level of education are invited to bring their backpacks or devices to worship – either in the sanctuary or your home worship space for the blessing.
As we continue to live into the ever changing dynamics of the coronavirus with variants and protocols, I pray that each of you and your loved ones will stay safe and well.
Blessings,
Deb
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