Dear SVPC Family,

This has been a hard summer, hasn’t it? In a recent New York Times opinion piece titled, “We’ve Hit a Pandemic Wall,” Jennifer Senior assessed: “Call it pandemic fatigue; call it the summer poop-out; call it whatever you wish. Any label, at this point, would probably be too trivializing, belying what is in fact a far deeper problem. We are not, as a nation, all right.”

For all our efforts to stay strong, to not complain, to make things better for people around us, we still can’t deny that the constant strain of living through a period of mass illness (without so many of the annual summer events and trips that bring us joy) is a hard slog. We’ve all paid a hard price, and the end doesn’t seem to be near enough.

I want us to remember that our relationship with God doesn’t require us to be “OK” all the time. It’s important to acknowledge that life is hard, and God even expects us to ask for help. (Though the help almost never comes as quickly or as directly as we’d like.) We can join with the authors of holy scripture who have cried out their pain to God:

Speaking directly to God about our pain and trouble also opens our mouths to speak to God about our hope and trust in God’s love and mercy. So, let’s keep opening up to speak to God and to each other—even if the words and emotions aren’t comfortable. Even if it’s to say, “I’m not OK.” We’re a faith community where we can talk about these things.

Seeking God’s mercy,

Dear friends,

One of my kids is taking beginner piano lessons with our fabulous Music School and part of today’s lesson was learning about what it means to transpose a piece of music from one key to another and why one might do that. My mind immediately wandered to consider all the ways our lives have been transposed. Friendships and work done via Zoom. Grocery shopping done differently or delivered. Airplane trips replaced by walks around neighborhoods. And so, so much more.

But what remains the same, is the song. As a church, we are still going strong in our song of faith. The Westminster Confession in our Book of Confessions espouses that our chief end is to glorify God and enjoy God forever. We do that together as we worship on Sundays, meet in small groups, join for classes, and so much more. We have transposed the means we use to do much of our life together, but the tune has remained the same.

I’m glad we’re in community so we can continue this song together in whatever key the times may call for.

Peace,

I’ve recently been thinking a lot about what it means to be a good ally—whether that is an ally to the LGBTQ+ community, the Black community, or to any of our other people-of-color (POC) neighbors whom I love and cherish. I see so many wonderful advocates for a wide variety of issues, but I also see a lot of passion that turns into emotionally violent anger. While the anger is justified, it often deters people who might have otherwise learned about the issues at hand.

It is so hard for someone who is marginalized to talk about the systemic issues that have caused the marginalization. It isn’t fair to ask someone who has personally endured oppression to also speak rationally and calmly about these issues. As an ally to my Black friends and neighbors, I have the privilege of emotional distance from the issues that they face. It is my duty to use that privilege to calmly educate those who don’t know any better, not to angrily push them further away from the truth.