Making Peace with the Pandemic
What have you had to let go of this year because of the pandemic?
I can’t put into words what the picture above means to me.
It is from Munger’s Christmas Commitment Sunday 2019.
On Christmas Commitment Sunday every year, we ask households to come forward, kneel, pray, and say:
“Lord, thank you for how you have provided for us in the year that’s past”
and
“Lord, please bless the work of our hands in the year to come.”
IF THERE IS A MORE MOVING SIGHT IN MINISTRY THAN SEEING WHOLE FAMILIES ON THEIR KNEES IN GRATITUDE BEFORE GOD, I DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS.
Looking at that photo again—all those families crowded into our church—makes me want to cry:
Because it can’t happen like that this year.
Here are some more pics that make me realize how much we’re missing out on this year. Do you see the mariachis by the red tent? Mariachis make me happy. Also, can you see the one with me praying with my family? Man how I love being able to do that every year—it’s such a powerful moment for us: “Lord, thank you thank you thank you.”
None of the above will happen like that this year, which I think is a major spiritual setback for our community, gripped as it is so tightly by consumerism and entitlement.
But there’s nothing we can do, is there?
Making Peace with the Pandemic
It seems almost obscene to modern wealthy Americans to state the obvious:
Sooner or later in life, you come up against something you cannot ultimately change or control.
In every individual life this is true, but this pandemic is the first such experience in generations that is true for all of us at the same time.
So, things are different this year and there’s nothing I can do about it.
And so I’m going to make peace with the pandemic.
Things are different this Christmas than I want them to be, but that doesn’t mean that we should stop doing what we believe matters. It just has to look different.
And I’m okay with that. Really.
Munger Christmas Season 2020
So, here is how things will look at Munger this Christmas.
Church is outdoors every Sunday, 9 and 11, rain or shine. (In inclement weather, services will be 30 minutes.) Worried about the weather? As it says in 2 Hezekiah, “just suck it up.”
Christmas Eve is outdoors, rain or shine!
3:30 (kids);
4:30, 5:30, & 11:30 PM—all 30 minute candlelight services.
We will be offering indoor Christmas Travelers services at 6 PM on 12/21 and 12/22 so we can record a full service to put online. Reservations required—info to come.
Christmas Commitment Sunday 2020 (12/13)
The spiritual reality behind Christmas Commitment Sunday—namely that gratitude is the only appropriate response to all our blessings—is too important to forgo this year, though things have to look different.
So, as in years past, I want to challenge our church to thank God for his provision in 2020 and ask for his blessing in 2021—to Finish Strong and Start Well.
But this year, things will look different. There will not be regular services on Sunday, 12/13.
Instead, I will lead several brief communion services in the parking lot and the sanctuary will be open from 7:30 AM-12:30 PM for folks to pray inside and drop off their gifts.
Here’s our new plan for Sunday, December 13:
• Sanctuary open 7:30 AM-12:30 PM.
• Only one household permitted in the building at a time.
• 15 minute communion services in parking lot at 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 noon.
We want to give folks the opportunity to pray in the sanctuary as they make their Christmas Commitment. That time kneeling at the rail is important for many of us. If you choose to do so, you will enter through the main front doors and have the whole building to yourself for a few minutes, before leaving through the coffee bar doors. There will be no one else in the entire building while your household is inside.
Of course, if you want to drop off a gift outside, you can certainly do that as well.
(As always, you can make your Christmas gift and set up your giving at www.mungerplace.org/give.)
And, I’m pre-recording a full sermon that will be online that morning as well, so be sure to catch it with your family.
So, I’ve made my peace with the pandemic. I’m okay with things being different.
This year, a lot about the Christmas season will be different, but Christmas itself isn’t cancelled.
The light still shines in darkness.
And I’m more than okay with that.
What about you?
