Dear Blacknall family,
You may have missed these monthly newsletters over the summer as we gave our full attention to other forms of communication in light of our circumstances. But thanks to the great work of Mary Grimm, we are reinstituting this means of being in touch as our separation from one another continues.
How could we possible have imagined the shape of late Spring and Summer, now into the months of Autumn? Someone generously described me as “knocked back” by the challenges; I am glad I wasn’t quite knocked out. But our team at the church has worked creatively and faithfully through all this, and we continue to adapt and tweak as our season apart drags on. I owe them a deep debt of gratitude. We have heard similar notes of thanks for many of you.
In recent weeks the three pastors, aided by some other ordained folks, have sought to provide communion to the worship groups who are meeting out of doors. Each week I pack my sacramental bag with chalice and paten, bread and wine, and a sufficient number of what are called “Celebration Cups”, and make rounds to two worshipping groups. Historically, this traveling parson has been more associated with the Methodists than the stodgy Presbyterians who require the people of God to come to us! But we have heard, and felt ourselves, that our commitment to the weekly celebration of the Lord’s Supper has become a vital part of our weekly worship, and we continue to try to find ways to provide participation in the body and blood of Christ to members who so desire. And so we have taken to “horseback” and are heading into the fields and backyards of our gathered community where we find them, in a variety of adaptive ways, attending to the worship of the Triune God. And it has been a vital point of connection not only to one another, but a reminder that the Lord meant for us to be together, and not apart. Even while we long to be reunited, and especially with those who are, for reasons of vulnerability, even more isolated, we are grateful that the Holy Spirit can overcome the limits and griefs imposed on us by COVID 19.
Adaptive change. If we ever needed to be open to that, it’s now. I was reminded of the apostle Paul who thought he had a pretty good sense of the Lord’s direction in his life. But he was stymied in his plans and redirected, with great effect (Acts 16.6ff.). And Paul isn’t alone. Throughout Scripture the Lord invites his people to trust him as he redirects them onto paths they would not have chosen if left to themselves. The greatest example of this is actually seen in the cross itself, a path that brought Jesus to his knees. But means and ends are united, and while the path of suffering seemed mysterious at best, and horrific to all, the Lord asked his Son to walk in obedient trust. The result was beyond imagining, the first and crucial (a word derived from “cross”) step in the recreation of the cosmos, and its reconciliation with its Redeemer.
All this to say again that the Lord is not surprised by the events that are taking place in our world, nor are we beyond his reach and redemption. In the meantime, let us gather as we can, attend to his Word, his Table, and his world, those around us, in loving trust and faithfulness.
Allan