April 10, 2020 by the Rev. Tim Schenck
Rector, St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church
At its essence, faith can be distilled down to two things: love God and love neighbor. We tend to overcomplicate this, but these challenging and uncertain times force us all to get back to the basics. More than anything, we all crave connection right now. For people of faith, that means connecting to God and connecting to one another.
Here at St. John's, we're offering online worship on our Facebook page to stay connected to God, and we've developed a network of pastoral care to stay connected to one another. And, yes, this involves using a little known feature on our smart phones -- one where you can actually dial a number and TALK to someone. Who knew?
But actually, we've done a lot of work to basically create a match.com between parishioners who have needs (prayer, errands, dump runs) and those who have the capacity to help others.
We've also been worshipping on Sunday mornings via Facebook Live, and offering daily prayer via Zoom. We're also offering all the liturgies of Holy Week and Easter, the holiest time of the Christian year, online. In other words, technology is our friend!
Is it the same as all gathering together? No. I mourn for the loss of in-person community -- of high-fiving our Sunday School kids after the service and hugging our octogenarians and meeting people new to the community. But I should say that while we're worshipping virtually, there is nothing "virtual" about faith. We need that sense of hope now more than ever. And our online gatherings have been much more interactive and inspiring than I could have ever dreamed possible. People are leaving comments and sharing photos and offering prayers for the wider community. And that has been a little glimpse of resurrection in the midst of a difficult time.
And laughter remains as important as ever. Our Associate Rector, the Rev. Jacqueline Clark, issued a dance challenge to parishioners in our Facebook group. People were invited to share videos of themselves dancing to a lively Meghan Trainor song with the chorus "I thank God everyday." I promised to post one if 10 people submitted videos, which happened in a couple of days! We had everyone from adults to toddlers to teens sharing videos. And even I, a self-professed non-dancer, posted one while wearing vestments.
Ultimately this is a time when loving our neighbors as ourselves becomes more important than ever. We may be socially distancing from our neighbors, but that doesn't mean we can't love them from afar. We are continuing to reach out to one another and the wider community through food bank donations and by serving as a collection point for donations of personal protective equipment.
This is not the time to cower in fear, but rather to reach out our hands in love. That's what we're seeking to do as a community by loving God and loving neighbor.