Dear St. John's Community,
Before now, I always hated video conference calls. I avoided them like the plague. But these days I am coming around. Even if it is merely on a screen, there is something very powerful in seeing each other's faces, and hearing each other's voices.
There have been moments in Zoom meetings recently when we have momentarily forgotten that we were not physically together. Many times, instead of using words, people have just looked at each other's faces to share humor—or compassion.
The online Palm Sunday service for tomorrow is almost complete. I have seen some of the footage (being brilliantly edited by our Music Director Brent Erstad), and when I saw the people waving palm branches and other greenery, shouting "Hosanna!" it completely caught me off guard and brought tears to my eyes. I could not really tell if they were tears of joy or of sorrow. It was both mixed together, and much more. There was something powerful in seeing and hearing the faces of so many dear people in our community of faith.
Our Christian worldview is based on the truth that God became incarnate and lived as we do, in a fully embodied human existence—with a face and a voice. While the pandemic disembodies much of our lives right now, I take comfort in imagining Jesus' face and voice, known well by his disciples, which conveyed the Good news of God's love for the whole world. We have no record of what he exactly looked like or sounded like, but the Holy Spirit carries his presence into our lives and has made our faces and voices the living body of Christ today.
Hosanna!
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