'Pandemic' Tagged Posts
The Distress of Change
Change is, in a word, hard. It is hard especially when we feel like we don’t have a whole lot of control over the change that is happening. And it gets even harder when those things upon which we have relied are themselves changing. I am not sure about you, but I have certainly felt that way over the last several months. The very things that were the touchstones of my week began to shift underneath my feet. Gathering together…
A Living Sacrifice, Holy & Acceptable to God
It’s has been a long spring season as we turn the corner to the summer months. The last 90 days have been incredibly different for us as a church, and we have shifted how we practice community time and again as we have attempted to weather the Coronavirus pandemic that is gripping the world right now. We began those shifts around March 15 of this year. On Sunday, we will mark a full 90 days of worshipping by remote means,…
Rogation, Creation, and a Pandemic
In one week’s time, the Church will celebrate the Feast of the Ascension on May 21. It is a feast day that happens every year and is considered one of the principle feasts of the church year. On the Sunday prior to the feast of the Ascension, the church recognizes another type of celebration called Rogation Sunday. Rogation days originated in the 5th century in France when a bishop called for days of fasting and prayer to ward off a…
Being the Church in Anxious Times
Over the last several days, the news around COVID-19, novel coronavirus, has been a shifting landscape in our country. In addition to the news from around the world, we have seen communities in the United States that have had to respond to a spreading number of cases, and we have seen major institutions, like Arizona State University, take actions to help prevent the spread of the virus in the areas they serve. As this news has spread, it is normal…