It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…”
Friends in Christ,
The above quote sounds like it could have been written anytime during the past three months or so, doesn’t it? But it actually is 161 years old, if you can believe it. The great English writer Charles Dickens penned those words as the introduction to one of his more famous novels (which I have not read), A Tale of Two Cities, a historical novel set in the years leading up to the French Revolution. But those first 12 words in the above citation—the first part of one very long sentence--are some of my favorite in all of literature; and they have come back to me many times during this current best (?) worst (?) time. And it makes me wonder what Sir Charles would write about these challenging current days if he were here today; and if he would borrow extensively from his own 161-year-old sentence to begin his 2020 essay.
Another quotation that has been on my mind a lot of late, articulated by one of our own First Lutheran wisdom-speakers, continues to put a smile on my face every time I think of it. A few days before Mother’s Day, Alicia Olson came here to practice piano for the upcoming Sunday’s livestream worship, and she stopped in my office doorway for a few minutes before she headed home. During our visit, we got to talking about some of the challenges facing young parents like her during this pandemic, especially as on-line schooling had supplanted in-school classroom learning and had pushed parents into unique and new territories of family time-management.
Then she smiled and told me about a conversation her daughter, Adleigh, and son, Camden, had had recently (they are elementary-aged kids). I think the children were busy working on their homework at the time, when all of a sudden Camden rather randomly blurts out, “I think this is a good time to start looking for a girlfriend!” To which Adleigh pipes up, emphatically, and right on cue, “During these CORONA times?????!! Are you CRAZY???!!”
During these corona times? Are you crazy? Sounds like the beginnings of another classic novel, if you ask me! And it also sounds like one of the most common questions all of us have been wrestling with these past three months, even if we haven’t always asked it as EMPHATICALLY as young Adleigh did, the day she rebuked her girlfriend-seeking brother. During these corona times? Are you crazy?
In young Mr. Camden’s defense, it has often been very difficult to know just what is appropriate during these “corona times” and what is not. For example, I never would have dreamed just how controversial something like wearing a mask during the time of a pandemic would be, but that is just one out of dozens of mixed messages we have had to try and sort through these past few weeks.
And it has not gotten any easier, especially as all of our 50 states have now transitioned into various stages of re-opening their economies, all as the virus continues to play an elusive game of “catch-me-if-you-can” with us. So, is it 10 people? 50 people? Should we still be social distancing? And how far? Is it safe to go to Wal-Mart? Jump on an airplane? Go to church?
Go to church—for in-person worship and other activities? Help us, Adleigh! Are we crazy to try and come back to worship during these corona times or are we being too cautious? Such is arguably the most pressing question facing us here at First Lutheran during these corona times, especially since these corona times could go on well into next year, even; unless we miraculously develop a vaccine before then.
As I have shared with a few of you these past few days, I had a great seminary education and am very thankful for every minute of it. But never in those four years did the topic of How to be a pastor during a global pandemic come up in any of my classes. Ever
So, this has been brand-new territory for me as well. And it is so all-consuming, isn’t it? Help, Adleigh! What do we do? Especially as it pertains to all the in-person activities that are so integral to our life together here at First Lutheran, many of which I had taken for granted before we entered this “epochal” period (thanks, Sir Charles) in our history.
So, since Adleigh isn’t here today to offer her opinion for all of us on the matter, here’s an update: By the time most of you are reading this newsletter, our First Lutheran “pandemic-era task force” here at the church will have met three times, and will have made a decision to either resume in-person worship (and other activities) on June 7th, as we had targeted, or suspend in-person worship (and other activities) until another date. I do not know what that decision will be as I sit and write this article today (May 20th), but by May 27th I will, since our next meeting is next Tuesday. And so will you. After our last meeting, our task force members were to do an informal “phone tree” calling survey of our members that hopefully will give us a good representation—a good “feel”—as to where most of you are at on this “re-starting” issue here at the church.
One of our primary goals at each task force meeting has been to prayerfully discuss the previous week’s developments regarding ongoing issues related to COVID-19, especially as Federal, State, and ELCA guidelines continue to evolve. Then we typically discuss how those developments relate to our particular life together as a congregation, in our particular context here in Wells County. One of the most challenging things about all the ever-evolving guidelines that have been in front of us during this time is that there has never been a one-size-fits-all template for how churches are to proceed. Are we like a business? A school? The Eagles? The grocery stores? City Hall? Help, Adleigh!
Thankfully the ELCA and our Western North Dakota Synod have been extremely helpful in holding our hands through this crisis, and whatever decision we will have made by the time you read this will have come after much thoughtful discussion, prayer and deliberation, and our decision will not only be anchored in Christ (to borrow a Camp Metigoshe phrase), it will also be undergirded by these core concerns: The safety and health of our people, especially our most vulnerable; the extra sanitizing of our building before and after activities; and the careful and practical preparation for in-person worship—whenever it resumes--during these corona times, especially with the added precautionary changes we will need to make (e.g. masks, social distancing, hand-sanitizer, changes to Holy Communion, Offering, the Peace, etc.).
Much has changed for all of us since the pandemic started, and our lives will forever be altered in ways that we have only begun to realize, but this truth remains: We are still the body of Christ here in this particular place at this particular time, called to live out our baptisms by proclaiming the good news of Jesus in word and in deed and “let our lights so shine before others” as we embody God’s grace wherever we go, even if the “wherever we go” part of that sentence has been mostly within the confines of our house or apartment the past three months! The tiny critters between the cracks in our walls could also use a good dose of the embodied gospel of Jesus, don’t you think?
So, regardless of what “church” looks like these days, you and I are still witnesses of this incredible good news God has planted within our hearts: Christ, crucified and risen; Christ with us always. And thankfully, the sturdy, steady anchor of our communal life together—worship—has not only never left us, it has continued to expand in its reach in surprising and delightful ways, given the gifts of technology and the wise ones around here who help to make that happen. Three cheers for them.
Yes, I know: it’s not the same as being here. I get that. I miss that. And I miss you being here. But I also know we have to do this whole “re-opening” thing right; and that means listening to Adleigh and not barreling ahead and doing something “crazy,” but carefully and prudently moving forward in thoughtful and informed ways, motivated primarily by love of our neighbor and care for their well-being.
So, hang in there, everyone. You are in my prayers, and I continue to seek to find creative ways of being your pastor during these uncertain days. Thank you for being patient. And thank you for your prayers. Keep trusting that God is good. That Christ has never left us. And that we will get through this. Because our God is a God who helps. The liturgical portion of our worship service called “the Kyrie” beckons us to remind one another of just that: Lord, help us, we pray. And he will. Peace.
Trying not to do crazy things during these corona times,
Pastor Phil
(As posted in June 2020 Newsletter)
Friends in Christ,
The above quote sounds like it could have been written anytime during the past three months or so, doesn’t it? But it actually is 161 years old, if you can believe it. The great English writer Charles Dickens penned those words as the introduction to one of his more famous novels (which I have not read), A Tale of Two Cities, a historical novel set in the years leading up to the French Revolution. But those first 12 words in the above citation—the first part of one very long sentence--are some of my favorite in all of literature; and they have come back to me many times during this current best (?) worst (?) time. And it makes me wonder what Sir Charles would write about these challenging current days if he were here today; and if he would borrow extensively from his own 161-year-old sentence to begin his 2020 essay.
Another quotation that has been on my mind a lot of late, articulated by one of our own First Lutheran wisdom-speakers, continues to put a smile on my face every time I think of it. A few days before Mother’s Day, Alicia Olson came here to practice piano for the upcoming Sunday’s livestream worship, and she stopped in my office doorway for a few minutes before she headed home. During our visit, we got to talking about some of the challenges facing young parents like her during this pandemic, especially as on-line schooling had supplanted in-school classroom learning and had pushed parents into unique and new territories of family time-management.
Then she smiled and told me about a conversation her daughter, Adleigh, and son, Camden, had had recently (they are elementary-aged kids). I think the children were busy working on their homework at the time, when all of a sudden Camden rather randomly blurts out, “I think this is a good time to start looking for a girlfriend!” To which Adleigh pipes up, emphatically, and right on cue, “During these CORONA times?????!! Are you CRAZY???!!”
During these corona times? Are you crazy? Sounds like the beginnings of another classic novel, if you ask me! And it also sounds like one of the most common questions all of us have been wrestling with these past three months, even if we haven’t always asked it as EMPHATICALLY as young Adleigh did, the day she rebuked her girlfriend-seeking brother. During these corona times? Are you crazy?
In young Mr. Camden’s defense, it has often been very difficult to know just what is appropriate during these “corona times” and what is not. For example, I never would have dreamed just how controversial something like wearing a mask during the time of a pandemic would be, but that is just one out of dozens of mixed messages we have had to try and sort through these past few weeks.
And it has not gotten any easier, especially as all of our 50 states have now transitioned into various stages of re-opening their economies, all as the virus continues to play an elusive game of “catch-me-if-you-can” with us. So, is it 10 people? 50 people? Should we still be social distancing? And how far? Is it safe to go to Wal-Mart? Jump on an airplane? Go to church?
Go to church—for in-person worship and other activities? Help us, Adleigh! Are we crazy to try and come back to worship during these corona times or are we being too cautious? Such is arguably the most pressing question facing us here at First Lutheran during these corona times, especially since these corona times could go on well into next year, even; unless we miraculously develop a vaccine before then.
As I have shared with a few of you these past few days, I had a great seminary education and am very thankful for every minute of it. But never in those four years did the topic of How to be a pastor during a global pandemic come up in any of my classes. Ever
So, this has been brand-new territory for me as well. And it is so all-consuming, isn’t it? Help, Adleigh! What do we do? Especially as it pertains to all the in-person activities that are so integral to our life together here at First Lutheran, many of which I had taken for granted before we entered this “epochal” period (thanks, Sir Charles) in our history.
So, since Adleigh isn’t here today to offer her opinion for all of us on the matter, here’s an update: By the time most of you are reading this newsletter, our First Lutheran “pandemic-era task force” here at the church will have met three times, and will have made a decision to either resume in-person worship (and other activities) on June 7th, as we had targeted, or suspend in-person worship (and other activities) until another date. I do not know what that decision will be as I sit and write this article today (May 20th), but by May 27th I will, since our next meeting is next Tuesday. And so will you. After our last meeting, our task force members were to do an informal “phone tree” calling survey of our members that hopefully will give us a good representation—a good “feel”—as to where most of you are at on this “re-starting” issue here at the church.
One of our primary goals at each task force meeting has been to prayerfully discuss the previous week’s developments regarding ongoing issues related to COVID-19, especially as Federal, State, and ELCA guidelines continue to evolve. Then we typically discuss how those developments relate to our particular life together as a congregation, in our particular context here in Wells County. One of the most challenging things about all the ever-evolving guidelines that have been in front of us during this time is that there has never been a one-size-fits-all template for how churches are to proceed. Are we like a business? A school? The Eagles? The grocery stores? City Hall? Help, Adleigh!
Thankfully the ELCA and our Western North Dakota Synod have been extremely helpful in holding our hands through this crisis, and whatever decision we will have made by the time you read this will have come after much thoughtful discussion, prayer and deliberation, and our decision will not only be anchored in Christ (to borrow a Camp Metigoshe phrase), it will also be undergirded by these core concerns: The safety and health of our people, especially our most vulnerable; the extra sanitizing of our building before and after activities; and the careful and practical preparation for in-person worship—whenever it resumes--during these corona times, especially with the added precautionary changes we will need to make (e.g. masks, social distancing, hand-sanitizer, changes to Holy Communion, Offering, the Peace, etc.).
Much has changed for all of us since the pandemic started, and our lives will forever be altered in ways that we have only begun to realize, but this truth remains: We are still the body of Christ here in this particular place at this particular time, called to live out our baptisms by proclaiming the good news of Jesus in word and in deed and “let our lights so shine before others” as we embody God’s grace wherever we go, even if the “wherever we go” part of that sentence has been mostly within the confines of our house or apartment the past three months! The tiny critters between the cracks in our walls could also use a good dose of the embodied gospel of Jesus, don’t you think?
So, regardless of what “church” looks like these days, you and I are still witnesses of this incredible good news God has planted within our hearts: Christ, crucified and risen; Christ with us always. And thankfully, the sturdy, steady anchor of our communal life together—worship—has not only never left us, it has continued to expand in its reach in surprising and delightful ways, given the gifts of technology and the wise ones around here who help to make that happen. Three cheers for them.
Yes, I know: it’s not the same as being here. I get that. I miss that. And I miss you being here. But I also know we have to do this whole “re-opening” thing right; and that means listening to Adleigh and not barreling ahead and doing something “crazy,” but carefully and prudently moving forward in thoughtful and informed ways, motivated primarily by love of our neighbor and care for their well-being.
So, hang in there, everyone. You are in my prayers, and I continue to seek to find creative ways of being your pastor during these uncertain days. Thank you for being patient. And thank you for your prayers. Keep trusting that God is good. That Christ has never left us. And that we will get through this. Because our God is a God who helps. The liturgical portion of our worship service called “the Kyrie” beckons us to remind one another of just that: Lord, help us, we pray. And he will. Peace.
Trying not to do crazy things during these corona times,
Pastor Phil
(As posted in June 2020 Newsletter)