Like so many things of this year, what constitutes the beginning of autumn in these parts is going to be very different. There will be no County Fair to mark the Labor Day weekend and the start of school will be a unique thing in every school district. A good bit of our church programming will fall into that category, as well. Christian Education will be different (and Marsha Meyer’s article details the plans going forward). Confirmation will be different. Music will be different. However, we have learned to improvise with “different” this summer. We’ve had “drive-in” movie experiences this summer. We had a “drive-thru” brat fry. We’ve had an outdoor service for Confirmation. In-person worship (with a modified format) was resumed in August. And of course, live-stream worship continues as it has since March and has become a community in its own right.
I appreciate the willingness of people to be flexible and adaptable. These aren’t the ways of doing church that we’re used to (and someday those ways will return), but we’re making the best of what we’re given. Some wise person once said that 10% of life is what we’re given and the other 90% is what we do with it, and this year might be the proof of that.What exactly the next month or two will look like is an open question. A lot of that hinges on what the virus does and how we react to it. We can put ideas on the planning board, but circumstances may change them. As another saying goes, “We propose; God laughs.” In the meantime, we move forward in good faith. I have a healthy respect for the virus, but I do not wish to live in fear of it.
Again, I close with the words that concluded last month’s front page: As for whatever else will happen in the weeks and months ahead, that is in God’s hands. I don’t know what the future may hold, but I trust the One who holds it. That will have to be enough for now.
Shalom aleichem—Peace be with you.
