Dear Christ Church Family,

I kind of wish that you could be a fly on the wall in my house right now. One of my daughters is FaceBooking with two friends, one is eating a snack and I’m typing this. I’m really glad you weren’t here 20 minutes ago when we were snapping at each other. It is the new normal and we’re sort of settling into a routine. There are moments of joy and grace and peace and anger and frustration and anxiety. Sometimes we see one of those emotions alone and sometimes the emotions are all mixed up together, like some crazy cocktail. The new normal adds an interesting twist:  how do we adhere to the directive to stay home and still help the most vulnerable among us? Is staying home the highest good? I don’t have an answer and I freely admit that I was relieved to hear an emergency management expert who is also an Episcopalian say he struggles with the same question and didn’t have a great answer either. But he is working with the Diocese and with the state government to find a way forward that allows us to follow our call as Christians to help others and incorporates current best practices for public health. From being a part of conversations about how to honor the mission of Grandma’s Pantry and Diaper Depot in the time of Covid-19, I know firsthand that the leaders of these ministries hear the call to help others strongly and are working to find ways to allow us to honor that call while keeping our congregation and those we help safe and healthy. It isn’t easy. Today’s answer may change next week or even tomorrow but please know we are actively working on this.
Sure, we are struggling to find our way but please join me in trying to see the light amidst the darkness. So many people do hear God’s call to be a helper, to love others as we love ourselves. Some of the efforts might be imperfect – homemade cloth masks for hospital workers come to mind – yet God’s work continues everyday. Every effort to help someone else, to keep someone else safe, continues God’s work. I’d even argue that I’m doing God’s work by staying home because by staying home, I am doing what I can do, both protect my neighbors and live as an example. It seems counter-inuitutive: seemingly doing nothing is taking positive action. However, we are not doing nothing in our homes: we continue to love our family and friends; we continue to pray; we continue to reach out to those we love and those we know who might be lonely or need a listening ear. We acknowledge our interdependence and God’s call to us to love one another as we love ourselves.
Please join me in prayer: God of healing and hope; in Jesus you meet us in our places of pain and fear. Look with mercy on those who have contracted the new virus, on any who are vulnerable, and on all who feel in danger. Through this time of global concern, by your Holy Spirit, bring out the best not the worst in us. Make us more aware of our interdependence on each other, and of the strengthen that comes from being one body in you. Through Christ our wounded healer, Amen.* 

With love and peace,Christine Dutt, warden

 *This prayer is credited to Rev. Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin in the Fields, London. I found it in a blog written by Lisa G. Fischbeck for the Epsicopal Church Foundation.