Dear friends,
Happy Earth Day! In conversations and emails with many of you the past few weeks I hear a common theme — that for many of you being outside and rejoicing in the beauty of creation has helped ground you during this time of anxiety and crisis. One of the bright sides of humans all over the earth hitting the pause button is the way the earth and her creatures have reacted. Suddenly the air is clear and the Himalayas are visible in India. Air quality has improved dramatically in cities around the globe. In Venice, the canals are clear and wildlife has returned. In fact, wildlife seems to be enjoying our absence everywhere, from an increase in survival among newborn sea turtles to mountain goats parading through the streets in Wales, to bears roaming more freely in our national parks. There is a lesson for us here — that the earth has the capacity to heal itself if we become better stewards. I hope that is one of the things we learn, and are motivated to act upon, from this pandemic.
The clergy of the diocese had a Zoom meeting with Bishop Wright this morning. He cautioned that we are in this situation for a long haul, and that it will likely be many months before we are back to what we once thought of as normal. He did say that we are now free to resume live streaming from the church. I was surprised at my reaction to that. Certainly streaming from the church is less complicated; there is no need to record the music ahead of time to insert into the live stream. But when I think about going into that sacred space I love without the congregation that I love it makes me almost unbearably sad. I don’t want to be there on Sunday morning without you. So for now we’ll continue doing what we’ve been doing for the last three Sundays, streaming the Eucharist from our home to yours, including videos of music recorded earlier. And of course, we will continue with Compline on weekday evenings, also from our home.
Remember if you have letters thanking health care workers you can leave them in a basket by the main doors to the church today and tomorrow. Kristine Anderson will pick them up and deliver them. And if my car is here when you drop them off let me know so that I can come out to say hello. I’ve enjoyed laying eyes on some of you today.
See you tonight at 8.
In honor of Earth Day, here is a photo from my sabbatical of a cross over Resurrection Bay in Seward, Alaska.
