Pandemic and Post-Pandemic Life Reflection

We are approaching the one-year anniversary of the outbreak of COVID-19 and the disruptions it caused in our lives. I invite you to take a moment and reflect on the way life changed for you last March. Here are a few ways my life changed last March: virtual learning, quarantine and social isolation, lockdown, sports canceled and postponed, Cub Scouts canceled, masks, physical distancing, toilet paper shortages, virtual church services, long lines at grocery stores, and using curbside pickup. What are some of the ways your life changed?

During the summer months, we continued to experience changes to our normal routines due to COVID, but our lives also began to take on a sense of normalcy, at least normal for a pandemic. Part of my family’s new normal included taking more outdoor hikes, frequent family bike rides, baseball with mitigation measures, joining a community pool, attending an amusement park with mitigation measures, rafting down the Delaware River, and a family vacation in August. What are some ways your life took on a sense of normalcy in the summer?

As we moved into the fall and winter, my family and I, as did you and your family, continued to adjust to pandemic life: hybrid learning for our boys and changing how we celebrate holidays, birthdays, and time spent with loved ones.

This week we entered the final month of the first quarter of 2021, with vaccines being distributed. My family is beginning to look forward to post-pandemic life. Janet and I are eager for me to join her in being vaccinated. In a recent family conversation about vaccines, one of the boys said, “Then COVID will be over; it will be gone?” We had to explain it is too soon to be able to say that, but we hope that will be the case or that it will become like the seasonal flu. As we look forward to post-pandemic family life, I hope my family will not revert to pre-pandemic life but incorporate some of the “new normal” from last summer, such as outdoor hikes and frequent family bike rides. What do you want that life to look like for you and your family?

Just as our families experienced together the disruptions, changes, and transitions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our church family at Grace also experienced them together. I was not present for the first Zoom worship service, but I have heard a few stories about it. Eventually, a “new normal” set in. Virtual worship on zoom, board and prayer meetings and Bible studies on Zoom. In late July, Grace welcomed me as your new pastor. In the fall we continued to adjust and try new things, such as hybrid worship services, outdoor worship, and outdoor family events. As case counts increased in early November, we decided to return to all virtual worship services. Now, with some of you having received vaccine, many of us are looking forward to post-pandemic church life. What do you want our church to look like and be post-pandemic? What direction do you want the church to go post-pandemic? I would love to hear your responses to these questions via email or in a conversation.

Much like my personal family life, I hope our church life will incorporate some of the “new normal” of this past year. Yes, the COVID-19 pandemic has been difficult. But as Albert Einstein said, “In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.” I hope we will continue to incorporate what we have learned and done during the pandemic in post-pandemic life. I dream of improving our virtual presence, providing ways to connect with people formerly connected or not yet connected to our or any faith community. I dream of valuing the connections we make Monday-Saturday as much as valuing the number of people who gather in a building on Sunday. I hope we can continue to experiment and innovate as we seek to be a Christ-centered community sharing God’s love with the world.

As we move forward into the future, I believe our life as a faith community will be different from our life together pre-pandemic. It will include aspects from our pre-, mid- and post-pandemic lives as well as aspects we have yet to experience or discover. I invite you to dream what our life might be like and to share those dreams with me and with one another.

God bless,

Pastor David