Dear Friends,
We have now been given a road map out of lockdown. What a journey we have been on and are still on…. As we begin to think about coming out of lockdown, we may envisage ourselves returning to doing things exactly as we did them before- but the reality will probably be different.
As a Church things will take quite a while to get back to how things were ’before’. We will still be socially distanced and be wearing masks. There will also be no singing together for the foreseeable future…
When things do begin to get back more to what they were pre-Covid, we will probably find that we are in fact nervous about doing things we used to do unthinkingly. We may be made more nervous than we used to be in crowds, or if we hear someone coughing right next to us. We may find things that we haven’t done for a while, like trying on clothes in shops or singing in church feel really, really odd, and not at all comfortable. Or it may be that we feel ready to go straight back to doing everything, but that our friends and family members do not. I have already heard quite a few people expressing real anxiety about whether a return to “normality” will be safe. We have all become a little institutionalised, and we will all need time to heal and regain our strength- our emotional and psychological and spiritual strength. So, if you find that the idea of “unlocking” actually makes you feel apprehensive, be gentle with yourselves; don’t rush it - and try not to rush anyone else. Take time to listen to your own feelings and to one another. Many people are coming out of this lockdown bereaved, impoverished, and depressed. It’s not all going to be magically “over” in June. The letter to the Colossians says “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.”
Whatever life is at this time for you and me, let us make time to do what we need, to look out for one another in love and to reconnect/ stay connected with the sense of light, hope, and promise of the revolutionary idea that God is with us, with you, with me. Thanks be to God!
Every blessing, Jenny
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