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What's Up With Pastor Todd?
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Welcome to the fifth week in Lent and the first week of Governor Ned Lamont's "stay-at-home" order for the State of Connecticut. My wife, Nicole, who is Senior Minister at First Church in Windsor, my two daughters, who were sent home from their respective colleges to do distance learning, and I are learning to share work space in what a couple of weeks ago seemed like a more-than-adequately large house. I'm always glad when we're together as a family, but the circumstances of this together time are difficult.
One of the difficult moments for me was two weekends ago. My oldest daughter, Fiona, who is a senior at Williams College, was required to leave campus along with almost all of her classmates. The campus is closed because of coronavirus. When the moveout notice came, I felt a mixture of sadness for Fiona--who was very upset to have to say goodbye to her friends, miss her final crew season, and miss all of the other rituals of senior spring--but also some selfish happiness that she would be coming home for a while.
What I wasn't ready for was the feeling I had helping her pack and move out of her apartment. I suddenly had the realization that I was moving my oldest from college for the last time. Fiona went to boarding school for high school. So the rituals of move-in day and move-home day have been a part of our lives for the past eight years. In the fall, Fiona will be beginning her first full-time job and living on her own in Boston. She will be a full-fledged adult. This was a big moment, but there was no graduation ceremony, no baccalaureate. The family didn't have time to gather. There were no graduation presents or cake. Also, the weather wasn't right. In the past, moving our children from their dorms was done in the warm, late spring sunshine. The day I moved Fiona from her campus apartment for the last time was cold and gray.
We will get through this crisis time as a family. We will get through this crisis time as a church. And I'm hopeful, though the behavior of some worries me, that we will make it through this time as a nation. But we are lying to ourselves if we don't recognize the fear, grief, and loss that many are experiencing. The kind of loss that Fiona and I and the rest of our family is experiencing around senior spring has a name for it: "ambiguous loss." Ambiguous loss is a term coined by professor and psychotherapist Pauline Boss. Her book is entitled
Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief.
We experience ambiguous loss when conventional rituals and processes around grief are either unavailable or inadequate. Too often our culture devalues ritual, but things like funerals, graduations, weddings, going-away parties, or simply the chance to say good-bye are hugely important for helping us process grief and helping us heal. When those things aren't available, grief gets frozen and our emotional and spiritual development gets stuck. A lot of us are going through experiences of ambiguous loss. It's important that we recognize this and find ways to grieve and to heal.
A way to move through the experience of ambiguous loss is to find other ways of making meaning of the experience. For example, my dad came out as gay in 1991 and died of AIDS in 2012. I am dealing with this ambiguous loss by writing a memoir. How can we find creative ways of making meaning in the midst of global pandemic?
Ezekiel 37 records the prophet's vision of a "valley of dry bones." These are the remains of a devastating battle: dead left unburied, lives left unmemorialized. It's a terrifying vision of social annihilation. God asks Ezekiel, "Can these bones live?" Ezekiel responds, "O God, you know." Then God answers God's question by reconnecting the bones and putting flesh on them. Through God's power the dismembered corpses are "re-membered" and given new life. The bones in this vision aren't just the remains of ancient, long-forgotten soldiers. They're your bones. They're my bones. In this time when coronavirus has dismantled our expectations and thrown our futures into confusion, can we live? I can't wait for God's miraculous answer.
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FRIDAY CHATS WITH
REV. SANDRA FISCHER
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Grab your lunch and hop online to connect with your South Church and First Church Friends for support and encouragement during this challenging time. We can all be apart together...or together apart! Hope to see you soon!
Sandra Fischer is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting beginning THIS Friday at 12:00 noon.
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FRIDAY VIRTUAL HAPPY HOUR
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On Friday, March 27, at 6 pm, we'll be launching TGIZ - a virtual happy hour accessed
through the Zoom digital portal. All you need to participate is an email account. We
can't provide beverages or snacks, but together we can create a warm, caring and
probably humorous time of connection! Here's the link; just click on it and follow the
prompts.
https://zoom.us/j/786558110?pwd=aUJPTE15NVBMK1M3ZDRFcU9iN1BQdz09
Meeting password 862590
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Thursdays at 1pm, Joint Bible study with South Church via Zoom.
Check your email for Zoom meeting invitation. |
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I've included a link to a dress rehearsal of one of our big Christmas concerts during my time at Concordia in Minnesota. The video is a bit shaky and doesn't start until just a few moments in, but it's a beautiful arrangement of one of my favorite hymns, It Is Well with My Soul. I thought you might like to see the giant mural that is included as part of the visuals of the Christmas concert (there is a new one made each year to align with the theme). There are five choirs singing (I was the conductor of the choir all the way to the right in the teal robes). Also, as this was a dress rehearsal, only a few chairs are set up to show where the rows would be so the students could practice processing. For the actual concerts, the floor is filled with chairs. (If you're curious, I am the person sitting in a chair on the bottom left of the screen.
) But most importantly, I thought the words might be meaningful to us as we navigate this trying time.
Looking forward to seeing you all hopefully soon!
With love,
Julie
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Stay tuned for updates on events and new opportunities to stay connected as all of us adapt to new information on coronavirus and mitigation recommendations from local, state, and federal authorities.
The building is closed for all activities.
Please call with any questions.
Voicemail messages left at the church will be returned promptly.
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Souper Saturday has been Postponed!
If and when the weather cooperates, Ann Wilhelm has offered to take small groups
on afternoon walking tours of the Wilhelm farm property as it awakes to spring.
Volunteers needed to make "check in" calls on church members. Contact
Pastor Todd for instructions.
And we encourage anyone who is planning to do errands, grocery shopping, etc., to contact others who could use help in these areas. The less traffic outside the
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Family Movie Night has been postponed until further notice
Spirited Readers - ZOOM virtual meeting Meeting March 31
All are welcome! Toni Morrison's The Source of Self-Regard.
"Here is Toni Morrison in her own words: a rich gathering of her most important essays and speeches, spanning four decades. These pages give us her searing prayer for the dead of 9/11, her Nobel lecture on the power of language, her searching meditation on Martin Luther King Jr., her heart-wrenching eulogy for James Baldwin. She looks deeply into the fault lines of culture and freedom: the foreigner, female empowerment, the press, money, "black matter(s)," human rights, the artist in society, the Afro-American presence in American literature." ~ Amazon
Pick up a bookmark in the hallway and join us for some interesting conversation!
Contact
Linda Betsch for ZOOM link or more information.
Spring Retreat will now be a Summer Retreat - July 17-19
Theme: Come to the Water! 
"All you who are thirsty, come to the water." Isaiah 55:1
at Mercy Center, Madison, CT
led by Rev. Donna Manocchio
Healing waters, deep waters, well waters, rough waters, still waters and waters of Baptism, we'll explore these waters and much more through times of creative worship, shared reflection, healing silence, community conversation, engaging with Scripture, and moments of relaxation and fun!
COME AND JOIN US!!
Contact Anne delCampo, 860-653-2946
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Please think about donating to the Granby Food Bank!
Please Note: although the Food Bank is closed until further notice we have a system to provide goods for "urgent needs" so donations are still needed. Non-perishable food and other items can be placed in the shed outside the Food Bank entrance.
Thank you!
Granby Food Bank Needs: APRIL 2020
Peanut butter/jelly
Baked Beans/Chili
Canned tuna
Canned fruit
Assorted box cereals
Toilet paper/paper towels
Sanitizing wipes/products
Dish soap
Puerto Rico Mission Trip has been postponed until Autumn 2020
Watch for more updates on mission trip plans this summer.
Rise Against Hunger Event at First Church POSTPONED
Ann Wilhelm, Vicki Saunders, and Hank Prussing have been in contact with the Rise Against Hunger organizers and the event has been postponed.
When the situation does improve enough that people can again gather in groups, they will work with them to reschedule. There are options we can take to limit the group size and still host a meal packaging event. The committee will keep us informed and if you have any questions, feel free to email Ann.
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