A Stable Faith
You’ve all likely seen a cardio-defibrillation performed either on television or in a CPR course. Maybe you’ve even seen one done in a live setting — but I hope not!
What makes a cardio-defibrillation necessary isn’t the heart stopping, per se. It stops pumping because electrical impulses are moving about in such a chaotic manner that the four chambers of the heart cannot pump effectively. The cardio-defibrillation cancels out the electrical impulses, effectively stopping the heart from its dysfunction in the hope that the sinoatrial node will fire off again and get the thing back up and pumping. Sometimes a normal sinus rhythm returns immediately, but sometimes there is a pause in which there is nothing happening on the EKG monitor. This is what is known as “flatlining.”
It struck me the other day that this is a pretty good metaphor for what we’ve all been through over these past two years! COVID-19 caused what we called a “shutdown” but we didn’t exactly stop functioning altogether. Sure, there were many things we couldn’t do, but all activity did not stop. However, we really were not in a position to thrive.
Then came vaccines into this pandemic like a cardio-defibrillator to a heart in need of one and… still flatline. We opened our doors just before Christmas… but still barely signs of life.
Nancy Baker told me if we wanted to get people back to church we’d better work some food into the equation, which we did at the first real coffee hour — and voila! — we have a heartbeat! And, just as importantly, we have a pulse to go with that heartbeat!
A few weeks into this next chapter and we have an increasing number of folks at in-person Sunday worship, we have coffee hour, we have a bunch of folks here working on the May Ritzy Boutique fundraiser, and even an increasing number of folks dropping in during the week! This patient seems to be trending in the right direction and for that we should all be grateful!
Of course, now the work begins. We’ve gotta get our church community (‘the patient’) into some healthy regimens! It might also be a good time for us to purge old behaviors that, truth be told, were probably detrimental to the health of our organization before the shutdown.
I hope you will all make an effort to get back here, insofar as you are able. But I especially hope you will come back on Stewardship Sunday, April 10th (Palm Sunday). The Stewardship Team is hosting a potluck lunch, Jackie Davis and I are resurrecting some stewardship shenanigans, and it would be a fine day for us all to begin again!
We will also be hosting a Spring Clean-Up Day here on April 9th. We’re planning on having some food for this as well as some live music! If being indoors with a bunch of people is too much for you right now, come be outside with a bunch of people! There’s much to be done, but I think we’re up to the challenge!
Looking forward to seeing all of your faces!
BIG Love,
Rev. Shayna