In the intervening time since my last post, I have been diligently pushing out a weekly column, From the Treehouse, for our church family. That felt important during the Pandemic at its isolating height, but now we have returned to a crazier life, fraught with all of the anxiety Covid has brought, but missing the slower pace of the previous months. I have been advised that people are now too busy to read those sorts of things,—and if my own inbox is any witness, I absolutely get it.
I have been pondering this culture of ‘both/and’ that has pervaded keeping a church going in these challenging times. Many things have two sides. Streaming our services means those immunocompromised folks in our parish family can still stay connected, which is something we absolutely desire. But it also means that those who might choose to return to church in person instead select an easier route. I imagine them staying home in their jammies, with coffee and a croissant or panne de chocolat; perhaps they are working the New York Times Crossword puzzle while our church service streams merrily onward at their elbow. They are still connected, of course; we would never turn anyone away. But they are missing the piece about worship that feeds us, and that is being together as part of the Communion of Saints.
Church is not meant to be an overload to an already chaotic calendar. It is meant to help us in our own navigation of that chaos. We hear Scripture that reminds us that we are not the first to experience life in this way. We absorb music which might touch us tenderly or rouse us to action. Perhaps the homily or the healing prayer give just that extra bit of insight or challenge that we need.
The tyranny of the calendar is that we have to do it all. We have to do everything.all.by.ourselves. Spending time with God— and fellow travelers— in church every week reminds us that help is just a heartbeat and a breath away, and that sharing in the Eucharist lets us re-emerge into that world sustained and inspired for the week to come.
Everyone deserves a day in jammies. This world can be so hard. But we do not need to make it harder than it already is. I am grateful to serve in a vocation which provides weekly reminders that joy can be found by simply choosing to be together in a beautiful setting with those whom we most love.
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