Welcome to the Monday Mailing #31 –
Days, Weeks, Months, Years – Seven Months
Children count time differently than adults do, or at least we tell ourselves that. Children count months, weeks, days . . . to birthdays, and holidays (SANTA! Which, as of today is 68 days) and then end of the school year. They also, but more wistfully, count how many days until the school year begins again, and their lives become “just awful.” We count as well. We count the days until vacation, and retirement. . . our events are just a little different. But we also count the weeks until that child will be born. We count how long a loved one “lasts” after a particularly devastating diagnosis. Days, weeks, months, years. . .
We are seven months into this time of Pandemic. Certainly the Pandemic began well before that, but seven months ago we began the personal distancing and mask wearing. Seven months, 32 weeks, 217 days.
And now, Covid-19 cases are on the rise. We’ve gotten comfortable as a nation (and world) with these days of waiting, and people are “forgetting” their masks, or moving closer to us in lines. Some continue to tell us it is all a hoax, designed to “get” us, and most of us are tiring of their time in their “own four walls.” Most of us initially thought we might be back to normal by now. (And if we are longing for normal, let’s all stop and think about how broken “normal” might be for some people in our land)
But the image I keep coming back to as I think about this time is that of the gestation of a baby. The kid needs a little bit more time to “cook,” but something wonderful is going to arrive right before Christmas. What little surprise has been cooking in your life these last seven months? What have we been incubating here at the church?
Don’t worry if you cannot think of something. . .we’ve got lots of time ahead of us. But what a tragedy it would be to come to the end of these days. . .the end of our days, without having given birth to something world-changing during these days.
Peace to you. . .
Pastor Janice
PS – Remember to
rsvpworship@hamiltonunionpresbyterianchurch.org
If you plan to attend worship in person
joysandconcerns@hamiltonunionpresbyterianchurch.org
To share joys and concerns before Sunday worship