Are You Ready?
Now that Labor Day has come and gone, Christ Church stands poised on the threshold of a fall semester ready to reincorporate many of the activities of our prepandemic life. Sunday school begins this week for children and adults, youth ministries have two retreats this month, C-Groups are back, we are sending a van to pick up college students who are meeting regularly, Wednesday nights are in view for October, and we even have mixed in an all-church retreat the first weekend in October. Whew!
The question comes to mind, "Are we ready?" For some the answer is an unequivocal, "Yes!" These things have been missed in the course of life and their return is welcome. Others are not so sure. As Sam Bush writes in a recent article, "Getting a child dressed and out the door felt like an Olympic event long before the pandemic. For young families especially, church used to be simply another thing to be late to, but now it’s too much to ask. The spirit is willing but the flesh isn’t just weak; it’s depressed, it’s irritable, and it couldn’t find a babysitter last night. As Dan Sinker wrote in his essay in The Atlantic, 'Parents aren’t even at a breaking point anymore. We’re broken.'" Do I hear a few "Amens" out there?
Two things by way of observation. First, wherever you happen to be on the readiness spectrum, much grace to you. These last 18 months have done number on us physically, socially, psychologically and spiritually. Not one of us is the same as we were before. But secondly, this is why we need to come together under the banner of the restorative love of Jesus Christ. It is as we study, pray, preach, teach, weep with, rejoice with, serve with, and generally engage in life together, that we experience the healing grace that we need. I like how Paul links interpersonal connection to spiritual growth in his letter to the Philippians, "For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God." (Philippians 1:8–11).
Photo by Shelbey Fordyce on Unsplash