As I have been preparing ideas for the February 6 service on our relationship with time, I’ve been reflecting on the time we are in now. It’s February. We spent time in lockdown and isolation trying to control the contagion, and the great efforts and sacrifices saved lives—many of whom we don’t even know. Now we are in a new stage where the variants are so contagious they cannot be controlled, and our leaders are trying to keep disruptions to schools, healthcare, and the economy to a minimum while encouraging vaccines as the best way to prevent serious illness and death. If the models are correct, the omicron variant should have peaked by the time you read this. The steep climb of infections is predicted to be followed by a steep decline. While we let this wave of COVID crash across our lives, we’ll gather virtually for worship services, with a strong hope that we’ll move to all in-person plus live-streamed services starting in March.
All plans are subject to reality.
One of the most typical responses to vulnerability is to shield. This can include numbing (whatever this looks like for each individual) and disconnecting from others. I’d like to encourage you to make February a month of connection. If pandemic time is characterized by isolation, it could also be characterized as the time when we learned new ways to stay connected. Find safe ways to stay connected: call someone on the phone every day, ask a friend or neighbor to have an outdoor driveway chat, be authentically glad to see those at the store or post office, write a card, start a gratitude text exchange, speak to a bird, bake something for someone, send valentines to librarians, healthcare workers, or anyone you’ve appreciated lately. Let’s not wait to connect when it is safer/warmer/happier/easier. What does it mean to embrace the phrase: the time is now?
In care, Stacy Craig