Something I Didn’t Expect

Talk about a week of great significance! I must have made about 100 different decisions to figure out how to move forward in congregational ministry given the impact of the virus crisis. (I refuse to use the scary name it has been given because that just drives fear.)

One of the things that was clear right away was that we had to decide how to combat “social distancing” ( a frightening phrase) and yet respect calls for increased attention to hygiene. With my staff, elders and health action team we devised ways to intentionally connect with people even as we “kept our distance.” We used, like many others, ZOOM to maintain contact with boards and Bible studies. We released a few videos, sent lots of emails and made more phone calls than normal.

People need personal contact. Studies indicate that infants that have personal contact do better than infants who don’t. Human beings have been famously dubbed “political animals,” which doesn’t mean we must needs be republican and democrat and libertarian. It means we need other people.

Knowing that drove many of the decisions this week. We must keep in contact with people. We used high tech to maintain high touch.

I did not realize just how significant that was until I was on the receiving end of that experience. Having been the one trying to reach out to others, it turns out I needed it too. There were in particular three somewhat out of the blue phone calls to me. I was surprised at the effect they had on me.

I laughed. I was encouraged. I was re-centered on Jesus.

Those calls to me proved to be of great significance for me!

What was of most significance to you?