I had thought to start this article with a silly but serious reference to Woody Allen’s oft-cited words, as adapted from an old Yiddish proverb: “If you want to hear God laugh, make plans.” Or perhaps the 18th century Scottish Poet Robert Burns’ observation: “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”
But I am sure that God’s not laughing as we stumble into what, by my count, is the eighth season of COVID: Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall. Much has changed. Some has not. And, as a community, we have had to respond.
The current variant is more contagious than before. Vaccines tipped the scales in our favor… but there are psychological, physiological, potentially chronological and, sadly, political limits to their effectiveness. Surfaces have come to concern us less. Sharing unfiltered air concerns us more – or, at least in light of all the things we can’t really control – we’re learning that it should.
Vaccinated people can still be infected with Covid 19. And even if their personal experience is mild or even symptomless, exposed individuals – with or without the vaccine – can pass it on to others.
So, we’ve tempered our temptation to just “go back to the way things were.” We are choosing, instead, to move forward with the way things are… And A LOT of that is exciting and very good.
Church Committee adopted modified protocols to help us ease into our return to worship in the Sanctuary this fall. Our wonderful music programs will resume on September 19th, including the long-awaited return of the choir. There will be coffee and conversation on the Portico after the service and both the Sunday School and Youth Group will kick-off the same day.
Sure, we’ll still mask when we’re singing or walking around, the doors and windows will be open and we may have to re-learn how to honor each other’s comfort and needs for space. Whirl! Kids will continue to meet on Zoom and the Youth Clean-Up Event will be held outside. But we know how to do that. It’s familiar. We can even manage a few more months with those self-serve Communion Cups.
What we cannot manage is more time a part. The soul of the church is its people. We long to be back together – to worship, to sing, to pray, to hear each other’s joys, concerns and dreams, to bask in the amazing music, to jump into the many great projects at the church and to reach out in service to the world. Many hands, many hearts and many small steps have led us back to this place. It’s time for us to regather. That happy, hopeful sound you hear…? Maybe God is chuckling a bit – to encourage our remarkable resilience.
In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. Proverbs 16:9
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5