FOR SUNDAY, MARCH 22, 2020
Over the last few weeks, as we prepared for our houses of worship to shut their doors to the public in response to the COVID 19 public health emergency, I have asked myself what is a congregation if not a community of faith.
For probably close to or over a combined 200 years St John the Baptist and St Adalbert have been worshiping every Sunday through winter storms and depression and war.
On March 18, with our hearts broken, we closed our doors at St John’s and St Adalbert’s for public worship. Last week we closed down our school and all other parish gatherings.
This Sunday and for the foreseeable future there will be no congregation physically present in our sanctuaries. This new reality will feel lonely for me, for those who assist in making our worship beautiful and inspiring, and for each and every person who worships with our faith community. We will feel the challenge of being a community or faith that does not come together physically and having to move beyond that physical distance. But we will know that our congregation will be gathering each Sunday as we hold each other in community through our private and family prayer.
Our care for each other will through prayer, phone calls, and other technology based forms of communication, can help us stay connected as we pray about and ponder what our world is going through even as we sit in our kitchens or living rooms or backyards (when the weather gets warmer of course).
This is for sure a strange moment for all of us. And yet, we know that we are stronger than a temporary virus, and that by staying home we will do our part as stewards of the health and wellness of our Whiting/Robertsdale community.
We know that this should come before our need to see each other in person for the moment, that this is what Jesus is sending us out to do as disciples right now. We will still be a church that connects and cares for our community and for each other, just one limited by the tragedy we are living with at the moment and one we can use for the good of us all.