Message from Pastor Erin Last Sunday, I asked, "What do we want to remember from this time?" Will we remember the fear of going to the store? Yes. Will we remember laughing with friends and family over Zoom calls? Probably. I hope, as a Christian community, we remember that during a time of great crisis, we lived out our call to be Christians caring for others as if we are caring for Christ himself (Matthew 25). We should remember that during a pandemic, we are a people who say "Yes" to God.
When the coronavirus took over our cities and shut everything down, we closed our church doors. I told the leaders of the congregation to stop coming up to the church. We suspended all in person meetings. I sent emails like this one explaining our situation and urging you to stay home and shelter in place.
Shortly thereafter a mutual aid group approached the leadership of RFUMC. Mutual aid is a group of Ravenswood/Lincoln Square neighbors who have resources to offer or who need resources. This group of our neighbors approached us to ask if they could use our empty building. They needed a large space where they could safely practice social distancing while they clean food and necessities donated, sort them for delivery, and get them out safely to our friends. The group asked, the Trustees met with the leaders of their group, and then the Trustees of RFUMC said, "Of course, come in! We have an empty building we can share with our neighbors in need." The church said "Yes!"
And what did I say? I said, "Woah! Woah! Woah! Wait a minute! I already told you to stop coming up to the church. We suspended all in person meetings. We are not letting a bunch of strangers into our building during a pandemic." I emailed the Chairman of the Trustees to say, "Don't talk to that group until you've talked to me first!" I insisted on meeting with the lead volunteer of the mutual aid group, a health and safety professional, to talk about the 150 neighbors who are in need, who want to help, who could use an empty building for good in this time of distress. I woke up in middle of the night worried about their bodies in our space carrying a deadly virus and harming us, harming them, harming more people. I was scared and was questioning God. And, after many conversations with our Trustees (thanks be to God for your patience with me!) I realized I needed to trust you, trust God and say "Yes." I realized we had a beautiful, empty, well-kept space we could safely share with our neighbors who were practicing safe measures to get necessities to those in need. What do I want to remember from this time? When asked to help your neighbor in a time of great need, you all, the people of Ravenswood Fellowship UMC said, "Yes!" In a time when things are slowing down, when we still stay sheltered in place to protect our neighbors and strangers, what are other opportunities to say, "Yes!" to God and work with God in our midst? I have a few ideas... - Say yes to reaching out. There is someone you've thought of often, wondered how they were doing, but forgot to call, text, or write? Do it. They would love to hear from you.
- Say yes to prayer. Maybe you don't pray often. Or maybe your prayers seems stale lately. Try it. Keep trying it. Prayer is about the discipline of come back to it when we feel like it and when we don't because the practice of regularly doing it changes us and sparks new insights.
- Say yes to helping others. Studies show helping others can boost your sense of well-being and lower depression. What?! And there are so many ways to help others. See another list of ways your fellow RFUMC folks could use your help in the "After Covid-19" section below. Commit to doing something to help your church community and then do it. Feel good that you helped someone else and helped draw the Kingdom of God a little closer in this time.
Oh yeah! And Sunday (May 3) at church, we'll practice a new form of prayer called love and kindness. New spiritual practices can feel weird. Allow yourself to embrace the awkwardness of trying something new. Don't judge yourself or your feelings. Come expecting God to show up in the moment. And bring a piece of paper and something to write with. You'll probably want to write some stuff down. | 
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