Wednesday Word: The Calm Before the Storm

I understand why people say that. I've said it myself. We say it because there oftentimes seems to be just that – a period of relative calm before things get really crazy, hectic, out of control, or whatever. During the football season, it's that time when the officials are all gathered together in one place, apart from everyone and everything else, between the time we've finished dressing and the time we walk out onto the field, when there's a feeling of calm.

I'm sure we all have our own examples of that period just before things get crazy when we have a moment or two where we can gather our thoughts, take a deep breath or two, and then off we go.

Right now should feel like that – it should feel calm before we begin to regather for in-person worship this Sunday. It should, but it's not.

All of the planning and discussion the PRC did toward this moment is finished and we are ready to go. The petition to the diocese was made and accepted. But now we are working to ensure that everything we put down on paper gets addressed and lived into in person.

Do we have enough hand sanitizer? Did we get tables and chairs where they need to go? Do we have the right signage? Will our thermometers work? Will the reservation process go as planned? Will we have enough bulletins? And, and, and, and . . .

So this time isn't the calm before the storm, but it is the storm before the calm.

We have prepared as well as we can. Things will be as ready as they can. And on Sunday we will welcome both people into the building and those watching online as we worship together. It will be there, with our gathered community, online and in person, where the calmness of our worship will wash over us. It will be there where we will pray together, hum together (no singing yet), and feast together. And it will be there when the words of Julian of Norwich will echo in our collective minds, “All shall be will. All shall be well. All manner of things shall be well.”

This Sunday, what will be will be, and that will be enough.

If you have made reservations to join us in person, I look forward to worshiping with you. If you will be joining us from your home, I look forward to worshiping with you. Wherever you are on this journey, know that we are gathered together; and I hope that brings a bit of calm into your life.

Be well,

Todd+