A Year Later, God is Good
Recently, in my devotional time, I came across a quote by St. Ignatius of Loyola. Unfortunately, I can’t find the exact quote now and so I can only share what I remember about it. Ignatius named the reality that in life we often find ourselves, in a sense, at sea, tossed about on the waves. But we are not adrift alone on the waves. We have hope, like an anchor fixed to the shore. God is that hope, and God is always with us. We are never adrift alone.
I’ve been pondering that image for the last several weeks. It seems especially appropriate now as we move into March, which serves as a reminder that we have been dealing with the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic for a year now. A. Whole. Year.
I can’t help but think back to those first weeks in March when we made the hard decision to shut down all in-person events. We made those decisions out of love – out of a desire to protect one another from a virus that at the time, we knew so little about. But what hard decisions they were. It was Lent. My mind rushed to Easter. What will we do about Easter? How can we not worship on Easter? There were so many worries and fears that plagued my heart and mind. How long can we last without the engine of in-person worship that fuels our souls and so much of who and what we are as a church? How can we stay connected with one another? How many of our people might contract this deadly virus? And there were the practical questions – (practical but no less important) will we be able to meet our financial obligations and for how long? How many might lose their jobs in our community? Will we be able to keep our staff employed during economic stagnation and downturn?
If I allow my mind to wander back to those early days, my heart can again feel the worry, the sadness, the fear, the pain, and uncertainty of those days.
But I knew we were not alone. I said it over and over to you and myself. God would be with us, to help us to stay afloat on the waves. Our sure and certain hope was in God who had us firmly anchored to the shore. And, like many of you, I dug into that promise, that hope. Every day, I sought the ground in God’s presence, holding me, holding all of us on the waves.
Now here we are one year later. If you had told me then we would still be dealing with this now, I would have said, “No, that can’t be.” I read all kinds of predictions at the time that stated the reality that we were on this journey for the long haul. But I couldn’t take that message in at the time. Instead, I had to attempt to swallow the elephant, as they say, one bite at a time. And that is what I did, I accepted the reality of one hard decision, one disappointment, one loss, one grief at a time. I suspect I was not alone in the strategy. It has been so hard. I won’t pretend otherwise. There has been a tremendous loss of life – numbers that stagger the imagination. And we have experienced that loss right here in our faith community. And sadly, that is still happening, which feels especially hard since we now have vaccines. I pray every day for those who have lost loved ones and those who are still battling this virus in the hospital.
Yet here we stand one year later and look at what God has done in us, for us! While I believed in the power of God to carry us through, to serve as our anchor and hope, I could not have imagined how powerfully God would see us through. We have continued to be the church, the body of Christ in so many powerful ways. We have worshipped, both online and in-person. And after a year of interruption from our “normal” in-person worship, fully ¾ or our congregation is still worshipping with us when you combine online and in-person worship attendance. Keep in mind that a good portion of our congregation is still isolating at home and just haven’t been able, for a variety of reasons to join worship online.
We are also currently seeing an increase in “in-person” worship attendance as more and more folks are getting the vaccine. We will monitor this to be sure that we can still worship safely, keeping our social distance protocols in place until more of the population has been vaccinated and we can safely ease restrictions. That time will come – but we are not there yet.
In the meantime, we have tried to stay in touch with all our congregation including those who can’t worship online with phone calls, emails, and regular devotions. Recently we distributed 580 “Lent at Home” bags to our congregation. Some of those were picked up in the office or after worship. Around 350 were hand-delivered by staff and lay servants to our congregation members at their homes. I spent last Sunday afternoon doing just that and was thrilled to be able to see (from a safe distance) several of our members that I haven’t seen in the last year. They were so very grateful for our diligence as a church in reaching out and trying to stay connected with them throughout this last year.
We have also continued to grow together through our Life Group ministry and Journey and Oasis classes, both online and in-person. We are also grateful for the ways that our children’s and youth ministry has adapted and continued to carry on ministry with children, youth, and families through safe, in-person activities and online programs.
Our Congregational Care office has had amazing success recently in connecting our members and folks in the community with COVID-19 vaccine appointments! Every day, Deana Massey-Dunlap receives emails of joy and gratitude over another vaccine appointment accomplished. We are literally helping folks connect with the gift of life! What a joy!
All that is to say, look what God has done! God is good, all the time! And we have known that goodness in more ways than I can list here. God has surely been our hope, our anchor, and will continue to be. Last year, every time we tried to glimpse an end to all of this, every time we tried to catch a glimpse of the shore, it would disappear again. It just kept moving away. Now, we can see land and it is moving ever closer. The end of this COVID-19 nightmare is in sight. We can’t put a date on the calendar, but we can see it coming nearer every day. In the meantime, we continue to trust that we are anchored fully in the goodness, the hope, the power of God.
God is good all the time! All the time, God is good! Today, I hope you will join me in offering a prayer of thanks and praise to God for seeing us through – for holding us together in the storm. And I look forward to “seeing” you in worship this weekend as we continue the journey of hope, from ashes to life.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Annette