Sacred Connections: When We're Struggling
My guess is that life may continue to be a mix for many of us right now. A mix of ease and unease, a mix of comfort and discomfort. A mix of hope and concern. And on. And on. Some of us are still experiencing more solitude than we might ever want, and some are experiencing more togetherness than we know how to bear. During these times we hear of folks remodeling their homes, reconfiguring their space to accommodate more family, more work, more time in one place. And we also hear of people losing the very security of having a place to call “home”.
Most folks seem to be experiencing some type of struggle, and while it may vary in scale to the outside observer, it is no less troubling to the one experiencing it. Many of us are so used to being in charge of our lives, and that sense of constantly needing to be prepared for another shift beyond our control can be continually unsettling. I remember as a young single Mom, I had a three-tiered back-up system for childcare that gave me a safety net so that I might show up at the office. Now, I can’t imagine the added complexity given the pandemic, the uncertainty of how schooling happens, not to mention the changing locations for doing work. There is just a lot on our brains, our shoulders, our hearts these days.
And what I repeatedly witness and experience as one of the most important things to help us through this unsettling time is that we have each other. Becca and I were on one of our Microsoft Team calls yesterday. It was to be my fourth remote call of the day, and probably about the same for her. But we started with a few minutes of sharing latest technical laments and challenges. Somehow, they feel a little lighter when they’re shared. Then after covering a number of program needs, we took some time at the end to share the start of our days. When we both did a fist up for her find of the last package of Bounty paper towels at Costco, we just had to laugh. Only months ago, we could never have imagined what we talk about and celebrate these days. In that moment of human connection, we had moved beyond struggle. We were both grateful for that reprieve.
Earlier this week Eucharistic Visitors made their first delivery of flowers from the Church of the Redeemer sanctuary to individuals at home. I later found a note taped to my mailbox from a grateful recipient, “Wow! Wow! Thank you. Somebody cares … The flowers are beautiful!” The Eucharistic Visitors delighted in reaching out and making these connections and the response given was truly heart-warming and beautiful. Anytime we can say to each other, through words or actions, that we see each other, we’re in this together, it has the potential to ease the struggle and allow a little more lightness in.
Last week’s on-line Sunday Worship enabled us to joyfully witness the baptisms of Roland Floyd Taylor and Owen Augustine Theobald. The actual baptisms had been officiated in their respective backyards and filmed so that we might all participate. This was a beautiful invitation for us to renew our Baptismal Covenant, to welcome these newly baptized, and to celebrate our sacred connection with each other, our unity in Christ.
Let us celebrate the moments of connection we have with each other every chance we get, be it success in finding Bounty, the joys of unexpected flowers, the sacrament of Holy Baptism, or the next moment that awaits. Let us let people know we see them, we hear them. And let us be vulnerable enough to be seen and heard. Each of us may be struggling in one moment or another but let us lighten our loads any chance we get.
