by Crawford UMC | May 29, 2020 | Conversations
In this time of physical distance and sheltering in place, one of the things I miss most is sharing our lives and our stories.
Last week, when I spoke with Peter Hobson about the amazing connections and the much-needed gift of masks his daughter Deborah is sharing with the Navajo Nation, his pride was palpable. I wanted to share this joy with him. When Joyce Cummings shared one morning at prayer about transforming her garage into a space that maintains a safe distance with others in order to enjoy tea with friends and brunch with family, I wanted to join with her in celebrating the creative way she is keeping connections. When Brian Rogers planted heart-shaped flowers in one of the Church garden beds, I want to be digging in the dirt right alongside him while listening to his plans to care for those who continue to struggle with being housed.
A friend of mine, Hope, loves to spend her time traveling. She is a seriously committed traveler and has only a handful of countries to go before literally having traveled the world. Hope is also a nurse at the West Roxbury Veterans Hospital. This pandemic has hit her hard; all her plans to finish her “bucket list of travel” have been canceled. She is finding it hard (really hard to shelter in place). However, on Monday, Memorial Day, she sent me this note: Happy Memorial Day! I hope you have a chance to rest today. Having your life on hold is exhausting. I spent part of my night sitting with a 90 something WWII vet who is married to a holocaust survivor. He was confused and forgetful, but he *didn’t* have COVID because my floor was half way converted back last week. He kept saying: well, I’ll have to get used to this but at least I have Hope! This pandemic has really driven home how important every life and every story is. No matter how old or immunocompromised or immobile my patients have been, I’m grateful for my work, grateful for my patients, who are each a fascinating jewel of individual experience and history.
Friends, we all have many stories to share — extraordinary stories about where we have been, the insights we have gained, the relationships we have nurtured. And … we have regular, everyday stories about that time we were all sheltering in place and the world challenged us to live differently. We all have stories that we long to share and that others in our community want to hear. In celebration of Pentecost, when a group of people who didn’t speak the same language and didn’t have the same faith, joined together in a single dynamic experience of God’s Spirit and discovered the essence of the church, which is unity not uniformity, diversity not division, let’s reach out to one another and share our stories, share our lives and remember that our God who loves us without condition and without end binds us together in a story bigger and better than anything we could imagine. Definitely something to share!
“See” you at church on the screen!
Hope
by Crawford UMC | May 22, 2020 | News
Dear Crawford Family and Friends:
During the last ten weeks, as we have navigated a new way of being in response to a global pandemic, we have been caring for one another by staying home, staying safe and staying healthy. This has meant dramatic shifts in how we build, form and nurture community and connections. On-line worship has provided creative experiences with United Methodist communities around the globe and inspiring gifts from our very talented staff and church members. Together we have risen to new challenges. Together we have shared hopes and fears. Together we spread the good news of Love. Together we remind each other that we are never alone.
On Monday, 18 May, Governor Baker announced the reopening of our state in three phases. The first of these include Places of Worship as long as these mandatory, minimum safety standards are kept. When we open the church building, we would be required to wear masks, only limited numbers of people could gather, celebration of Holy Communion would be prevented, and regular disinfecting would be necessary.
The New England Annual Conference sent word at the beginning of May that “we will refrain from meeting in person for worship, retreats, Bible Study, and any other in-person church-related gathering through at least Pentecost Sunday, May 31, 2020.” They also remind us that “returning to offices and church buildings will be gradual, in phases, and not advisable for those in highest risk groups for some time.”
Our District Superintendent, We Chang, counseled us on the severe restrictions regarding what we need to do in order to maintain safety for in-person worship including social distancing, mask wearing, no singing, etc. Key areas will need to be addressed before reopening like practical procedures and policies, finances, budget adjustments, contingency plans, enhanced cleaning programs, and Sunday morning logistics. We could, in fact, do harm if we do not put practices in place to promote the safety and wellbeing of the congregation, staff, and clergy.
In light of these realities, it does not make sense for us to reopen our church building at this time. Following the “Three General Rules” of The United Methodist Church, which are Do No Harm. Do Good. Stay in Love with God, we are working to ensure that members of the Crawford family continue to be as safe and healthy as possible. With this as our goal, our Sunday worship, Christian Education classes, Fellowship groups, and committee meetings will continue to occur virtually until we have a plan in place for safely regathering.
Here are some reasons why we are moving forward in this way. At Crawford, we sing. We hug. We visit with each other. We love coffee hour and fellowship. No-contact worship and fellowship in the church building doesn’t reflect who we are as Crawford.
As the last few months have shown, we are committed to caring for all people including older adults, children and the immunocompromised who are valuable parts of our society and our family of faith. As a colleague said this week, minimum standards do not maximize the safety of the whole. Through this time we have proven that the church is more than a building. Having experienced this, we will continue to creatively imagine new ways to be church…responsibly.
As one who likes to move quickly and decisively, especially when there is a crisis, at this time, wisdom is in moving carefully, thoughtfully and intentionally. Working with the members of the Trustees and Church Council as well as our Lay Leader and Lay Member to Conference, we will strive to create a safe, comprehensive and responsible plan to re-enter our building. As we are working on this and with on-line worship planned through June, our community has the space to build a plan that honors the whole community.
As we wait together, we can still connect, support, encourage and pray for one another in a variety of ways — in on-line worship on Sundays at 10:00 am on Zoom or streaming on our YouTube Channel, in morning prayer on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 8:00 am, in Adult Study on Sunday mornings at 9:00 am or Middle School Youth Group on Wednesday nights at 7:00 pm. We do this also by sending cards, making calls, sharing food, checking in on one another and continuing to give to support God’s mission and ministries shared through our Crawford community.
Friends, we are in this together.
In gratitude and with great hope,
Hope Luckie Pam Reeve Frank Leathers Colin Simson
Minister Church Council Chair Board of Trustees Chair Lay Member to Conference
by Crawford UMC | May 15, 2020 | Conversations
Last Sunday, I mentioned Dame Julian of Norwich who was a 14th century anchorite in England. This week, the Church celebrated her feast day (May 8 or May 13 depending on your community) and Jessica mentions her in the Time for the Child in All of Us for our worship this week.
What makes Julian so remarkable?
Having lived through the plague and the 100 years war, Julian could probably commiserate with what we are going through. She understood living in isolation; although hers was a chosen devotion. She also knew about the struggle to know, to find and to understand God’s love in all times, all places and all conditions.
In seminary, when I first read her Revelations of Divine Love, I was drawn by the way Julian talked about God as Love and how she counseled one and all to forgive self, to not live in guilt but to revel in grace. T.S. Eliot picked up one of her famous lines about God’s sustaining love and grace in his set of poems called The Four Quartets. He quotes Julian’s comforting words saying, “All shall be well. And all shall be well. And all manner of thing shall be well.”
As week nine of home school draws to a close and I wonder if I will make it another six weeks (or if my children will), I cling to these words. Remembering that God is with me and that God loves me even when I am more than frustrated by lessons and Zoom sessions and isolation; knowing that all will be well and all manner of thing will be well, keeps me going, keeps me prayerful, but most of all challenges me to be gracious and gentle with myself and the little ones … because all really is well.
By the way, whenever Julian is pictured, she is always shown with a cat! I find that comforting too.
“See” you on Sunday,
Hope
by Crawford UMC | May 8, 2020 | Conversations
One of my favorite theologian-practitioners, Mr. Fred Rogers, once said, “All of us, at some time or other, need help. Whether we’re giving or receiving help, each one of us has something valuable to bring to this world. That’s one of the things that connects us as neighbors — in our own way, each one of us is a giver and a receiver.”
There is so much truth in these words. In this season of Easter, the Crawford Community has been both, givers and receivers. Through connecting with our neighbors in Chelsea at Nueva Vida United Methodist Church, we were both: we were able to share our abundance and we received the faithfulness and love.
Pam and Laura met with Pastor Mirna Concepcion de Rodriguez via Zoom about this gift. At the end she offered this prayer. In this, we are witnesses to the blessing of God both for our Crawford Community and for Nueva Vida UMC. In this, friends, we are witnesses once more of Easter’s gifts of abundant grace, restored life and generous love.
“See” you on Sunday,
Hope
by Crawford UMC | May 1, 2020 | Conversations
This Sunday, the fourth Sunday of Easter, is known as Good Shepherd Sunday. It is the day that we hear the Psalm most of us know by heart, the 23rd Psalm, as well as the text from John’s Gospel in which Jesus reminds us that he is our shepherd and the sheep (that would be us) recognize his voice. He calls his sheep by name. He leads us and we follow because we know his voice.
In these days of staying at home, I find comfort in knowing that God in Jesus is still calling me to follow God out of the gate and into the world. Some of the ways I recognize God’s voice is in you.
I hear God in Keiko, despite the circumstances, sharing the gift others need and we can provide of Blessing Bags with people who were once strangers but can now be called acquaintances (if not friends).
I hear God in Jessica’s grief over the loss of one of her friends and professors who died from COVID-19.
I hear God in the celebration of birthdays with friends who drive by to sing “Happy Birthday” and who leave birthday blessing signs in front yards.
I hear God in the reverent prayers of our friends and neighbors for those who are sick and those who care for them.
It seems like the resounding message these days is that God is still with us, right where we are ….in physically distant lines at the grocery, in Zoom calls with family, in tea parties with 6 year-olds who are delighted to host and so sad they cannot be together in person.
As we approach the fourth Sunday of Easter, we are reminded that we are God’s people, the sheep of God’s fold, lambs of God’s flock, the ones of God’s own redeeming, even here, even now.
For this, for God, for you, I am grateful.
“See” you on Sunday,
Hope
