8
New-Fashioned Words: & Photos: Susan Rountree
“When two
or three are gathered together, Jesus said in Matthew 10, “I will be in the midst of you.”
our initial Covid-19 closing,” says Lee, “a sense of loss and extreme sadness was overwhelming as I moved through our 37,000 square feet of empty space. It took time for our necessary distance and the absence of our people to settle in my soul.”
Gathering. It’s a fact that followers of Jesus have been practicing for more than 2,000 years. In twos and threes and hundreds and thousands — to worship and to sing and to pray, to study and provide comfort, to learn and to be nurtured.
But the thing about church is this: People need it. They need the connection Sunday mornings and committee meetings and study and breaking bread together bring. And as the pandemic continued and people kept comfort in their homes, they sought each other out in ways both remarkable and old-fashioned, taking it upon The early disciples gathered at the temple, as was their themselves to keep the practice, and then broke bread in their homes line of communication to honor Jesus’ request to “do this in remem“When I returned to the building open, even though they brance of me.” Through the centuries, people could no longer — at built churches and cathedrals and gathered by several days after our initial Covid-19 least temporarily — pass the dozens and the thousands, praising and the peace. praying and singing, and on Sunday mornings closing,” says Lee, “a sense of loss and for a very long time, all seemed right. extreme sadness was overwhelming as I Among the first things the Rev. Holly Gloff did Until a microscopic virus brought it all to a halt. moved through our 37,000 square feet was pick up the phone. In her ministry to the older members of our In mid-March churches all over the country of empty space. It took time for our parish, she knew full well shut their doors to the outside world. No the most vulnerable in services, no meetings, no more knitting in par- necessary distance and the absence of our congregation needed lors, no more mid-weeks meals for the elderly, assurance that all would no more gatherings of any kind of 10 people our people to settle in my soul.” be well. With more than or more. — LEE HAYDEN 300 members over 70, that proved to be quite At St. Michael’s, Lee Hayden, director of operthe task, and she asked for help. ations and our newcomer ministry, opened the church master calendar and cleared it, a task unthinkable only “We are not permitted to go to hospitals and homes days before. In spring, the St. Michael’s calendar blooms at this time,” says Holly. “About the best we can do for like a newly-planted garden — the ECW Garden Party, each other is to stay in contact, and make sure everychoir festival, Senior Sunday, Confirmation, Spring Fling one is at least safe. Some we call, sometimes several — a calendar so full Lee can hardly find rooms to schedtimes.” ule every event. Yet throughout this spring, our parking lot lay empty, the front doors of the church locked, offices dark, as the congregation, clergy and staff waited for news of when we could open again. “When I returned to the building several days after
She’s learned about parishioners with family members in hospice care, where visitors are no longer allowed. “Lots of people who live at Springmoor, the Cypress, the Cardinal and other retirement communities are locked down and not permitted to have friends come by and
The
