A Word from the Pastor
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Welcome to the new normal, as it is called. Social distancing, facemasks, awkward greetings when handshakes would normally be used, virtual schooling, virtual Bible studies, political obfuscation, conspiracy theories, travel restricts, quarantine, rampant fear, depression, unemployment, a ruined economy, who would have thought in January of this year that this would be our world. And yet it is. And it doesn’t appear to be letting up anytime soon. Rightly or wrongly, we are going to be on this track for the foreseeable future.
There’s much I miss about the old world. I would like to travel more easily for vacation, for example. I would very much like to be able to walk down the street, masked or not, without people making judgments about my potential political position. It would be nice if we didn’t have to social distance at church. Nevertheless, there is a silver lining to this cloud. We have tremendous opportunities.
We’re much better at electronic meetings these days. Zoom can’t solve all of our problems, but it does solve some of them. Live-streaming is proving to be so effective that I don’t think we would stop even if the world of 2019 reappeared tomorrow. In fact, we are already planning ahead to see how we can capitalize on these technologies.
On the one hand, we’ll probably never get back to business as usual. On the other hand, we literally have a world-wide audience. The game has changed. As we move forward toward 2021 we will continue to look for ways to make the most of our current situation, remembering Paul’s words to make “…the most of every opportunity because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:16 NIV) God is still in control, even if the world doesn’t look like we want it to. He still has a plan. He is still saving souls. And He is still working through us.
God’s blessings,
BRUCE ALBERTS
