The calendar on the wall informs me that we will soon be heading into October. The march of time has happened one day at a time, one week at a time. I wish that I had something profound to write about the things that have happened at church since the writing of the last newsletter in mid-August, but I don’t. Like the passage of time itself, things have happened one step at a time, and sometimes one small step at a time. We continue to hold in-person worship. Church school and Confirmation classes have started up online. We have taken a number of steps forward and none backwards. That sort of thing would indicate progress of some kind.
Some three weeks into the start of the schools, colleges, and universities, there has been an uptake of coronavirus cases in our area, but what that will look like in two to three weeks (at this writing) is another guess. What impact that will have on what we do at church is uncertain. Still, in spite of the unknowns, we have begun to plan ahead. At a recent Worship Team meeting we looked ahead to Thanksgiving, Advent, and Christmas. That sort of advanced planning isn’t uncommon: church worship people are always thinking about Advent and Christmas worship even when folks are wearing shorts and polo shirts. This year isn’t going to be an exception.
The planning ahead is a sign of hopefulness. Not knowing exactly what the future will bring us, we make our preparations, anyway. It’s an act of faith.
When we get to the end of the tunnel on this whole business is another guess, but each day we get one day closer to it. In the meantime, it’s good to be prudent but it’s not wise to be fearful.
And one last word: we are approaching another national election. Feelings and opinions run strong, as they did back four years ago. No matter who any of us votes for and no matter how the whole matter turns out, we still have to live in the same country with one another. A Jewish friend of mine back in college said that his grandmother had Yiddish word to describe the kind of behavior most of us should strive for. Whenever someone was tempted to act less than decently and honorably she would say, “Be a mensch.” Since Yiddish borrows heavily from German, some of you might recognize the gist of the expression: be a decent, honorable human being. That’s my counsel for the season: be a mensch.
Until next month.
Shalom aleichem—Peace be with you.
Rev. Jim Hoppert
