The abbreviation tbd seems inescapable these days. The letters stand for to be determined, as in “the details of this year’s Village Fair are tbd,” or “the specifics of our Christmas Eve Services are tbd this year.” There is, of course, a much longer list than this. At home, at work, at church, and in our communities, we are plagued by uncertainty.
And yet, let me suggest that perhaps we are less plagued than challenged – not by uncertainty about WHAT to do, but by the challenge of figuring out HOW.
Sure, there are a lot of things we cannot or should not do. But many of those things have more to do with the mechanics of making a particular activity or event happen.
For example, we choose to observe careful protocols to be sure church members can safely worship on Sunday mornings. We can spread people out, space arrivals and departures, open windows for good ventilation, take attendance and change the pattern of the service. We can also live-stream to give people an even safer alternative. By managing the mechanics, we are able to meet the challenge of providing weekly services on Sunday mornings.
Have you noticed? We’re actually getting good at this!
- Church committees, Crafty Ladies, Confirmation, Sunday School and Youth Group all have modified the format for their meetings, but they still meet.
- The Thanksgiving In-Gathering of Food is transformed because this year we’re able to offer gift cards, complete with a message of encouragement and hope drawn on envelopes by our kids.
- We are looking forward to a Village Fair… albeit a very different form of fair than in the past.
- We’re planning a Christmas Pageant that won’t put any of our children at risk!
- We’ll have my annual “Open House” from the comfort of our separate homes, complete with decorations and refreshments.
- Instruments will play, since our singers can’t sing, so we’ll still have glorious music on Cantata Sunday.
- And, this year, we hope to experience Christmas Eve by spreading the wonder broadly across the Common – starting at 4 pm in front of our church, with St. Stephen’s sharing their own celebration around their church when we are done and First Parish picking up when St. Stephen’s has finished, with their service on the North End of the Common. In between, the Carillon will play. Each congregation will honor their own traditions while making time and space for the other’s.
This newsletter’s theme is, clearly, TBD… but not because we’re giving up what we value. We are simply determining how best to do the things that make our church and our holidays special.
We’ll figure this out. By God’s grace and our faith, not to mention a good measure of tenacity and some old-fashioned ingenuity, we already are. And it will be glorious, indeed.
With blessings,
Pastor Karen
P.S. It didn’t fit cleanly in the list above, but we are also planning a second Christmas Eve service, in-person and on-line, with special music and candlelight at 7 p.m. More, tbd!