August 6, 2021

We’ve been through the pandemic. And we haven’t gotten all the way through the pandemic. In a recent online gathering of UU ministers who participate in the Soul Matters Sharing Circle, a colleague shared a metaphor that someone had used when they were trying to describe this current moment. It goes something like this: During this pandemic time, a time compounded by unrest over racial justice and growing partisan and ideological divisiveness, we have been at sea. We have been sailing in often stormy seas, when it’s been a challenge to keep ourselves afloat. And in times of calm, even when there have been clear, sunny skies, we have not been in sight of land. We have not sighted land in a long time. We’ve been looking and looking, hoping and hoping. Recently, thankfully, we’ve spotted land again. Some of us have even been able to pilot our sea-weary ships ashore. We’ve taken a breath of relief and stepped off our ships — only to find our foot coming down on shifting sands! We may no longer be at sea, but the beach we’ve reached — this sand is not steady. It seems to shift again and again. How can we build here?

I keep giving thanks for the vaccines developed for COVID-19, but even today, the situation seems always changing. With the delta variant of the virus, and with increased activity with relaxed restrictions, infection rates are increasing— locally, we live in an area of high risk once again.

But we are continuing to work toward integrating in-person attendance at our Sunday morning worship services again beginning September 12. We’re evaluating recommendations from the UUA, from the CDC, and from many more sources. We’re looking at different options for a clean indoor air solution for our sanctuary and for our meeting house as a whole. We’ve tried out a few different models of air filtration systems. There are definite options and plenty of different ways to go, so the Way Forward Task Force is weighing them, looking at the costs involved and measuring the decibel level of the whoosh of different filters in our space.

And I’m convinced that we can make Zoom and in-person stuff happen at the same time largely with the help of the sophisticated cameras and microphones that we tend to carry around with us all the time — our smartphones!

This may feel like a time of waiting. But much more this is a time of experimentation and study of these sands on which we’ve landed. We are not alone on these sands. We are here together, and I can’t help but be hopeful and excited.

Onward!
Rev. Joe