Rev. Kathi's Message
COVID-19 is hitting our nation and our world in full force. Churches have cancelled worship services. Businesses are closing. Schools are on an extended break. The world as we know it is disrupted at every level.
For now, those of us who can will shelter in place. We will be careful about our contact with others and our potential to spread a virus that we seem to only barely understand. That means that many of us will need to learn how to care for one another without being together in the same place at the same time. Just as we are in danger from an economic recession, we are also in danger of a social recession. Loneliness is already at all-time highs, particularly for our older family, friends and neighbours. We must make sure that we are not losing touch with each other at the time of our greatest need.
Most of us depend upon casual connections to keep us connected. We run into each other at church or at the grocery store or at the bank. That won't be happening, so we need to be intentional about how we connect. Most of us have telephones. Let's use them. Call people. Text them. Use online video calls through services like Skype and FaceTime. Take responsibility for staying connected to the people you care about.
Some in our community may need help with basic things like grocery shopping and running essential errands like picking up medication from the pharmacy. At the church office we have a list of volunteers who have offered to run those errands. Please call us.
For now,
Tina and I will be keeping our regular office hours. Tina will be in from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday. I will be there from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday to Thursday.
We will let you know if this changes. The sanctuary will be open for anyone who needs a place to pray or meditate. You will be asked to follow social distancing and wash your hands when you enter.
Please let me know by phone or email if you have prayer requests.
In the next couple of weeks, we hope to be able to put together our own online worship services and send them out to you. Please watch for communications from Erin Mills United for further details.
In the coming days we are likely to face challenges we couldn't have dreamed of even a month ago. The great gift of this historic moment is it serves as a reminder that we need one another, that we are each other's keeper. One of the essential insights of our faith, a promise to which we collectively hold, is that this too shall pass. It just needs to hurry up.
God is with us, and we have each other
Rev. Kathi
