I looked over last month’s “First Notes” and it struck me what little of we knew of what would happen in the world, in our community, in our congregation since that issue. The turning point seemed to be March 13th—Friday the 13th—when the schools announced their closings for the next week and the restrictions in the number of people permitted to gather together in one place were tightened. Changes have occurred on a daily basis since then, it seems. At church, we went from being able to gather in worship to having to live-stream worship services. Pastoral visitation, in person, has gone from severely restricted to being virtually eliminated; contacts now have to take place by phone. Funeral services are limited to brief, immediate-family-only services at graveside. I never envisioned the ministry of the church being altered in this way for this long of a period of time, and goodness knows that nothing in my training and background (and the training of any of my colleagues, for that matter) has prepared me for this kind of situation. We are all learning as we go.
Last month we were looking towards the start of Holy Week and Easter weekend in early April and our preparations for it; now it looks like those services will be of a different nature and format online. It will be a very different experience for all of us.
Yet, in the midst of all of this, we know that the church continues to be the church through all of it. We will continue to be creative in the ways that we reach out to our church community and to the world we are a part of. We know that God is present in the darkness and uncertainty of the current situation. And we know that somewhere, someday, this situation will come to an end. We have the opportunity to continue to do good, to love our neighbors, to pray for one another, and to be a beacon of light in these times.
When circumstances change someday, we will be able to gather as we once did: until then we have left the building. Our special congregational meeting of April 26th will likely have to be rescheduled. The Consistory and the ministry teams will be meeting by phone or by internet and will keep you updated on when the time is right for us to resume our gathering together. Your pastoral staff can be still be reached by phone or text; we are still doing ministry. I encourage you to keep that work in your prayers, for we are always in need of that support, and I also encourage you to continue to financially support the work of the church at Salem as you are able in these circumstances.
By the grace and strength of God we will weather this storm.
I leave you with the greeting/parting words of Jesus.
Shalom aleichem—Peace be with you.
Rev. Jim Hoppert
