Note from Nora: Creativity Abounds..!

Hello from my basement room which has become my office now, site of countless Zoom meetings and email exchanges. I feel like I have adapted a lot in the past two weeks. It’s odd to work so busily with colleagues that are in the same city yet never in the same building with me. Yet the changes in my working life are small compared to the amazing ways that those in pastoral ministry have responded to the need to serve communities of faith in ways that they would not have imagined a month ago.

This is a time for creativity, and creativity abounds.

People who had never even heard of Zoom a few weeks ago are now leading or participating in worship on that platform, and finding it deeply meaningful. Others are live-streaming church services or pre-taping worship for congregations, and congregants are signing in and taking part. An interesting thing about the online worship is that it seems to be attracting some participants who are not church-goers in normal times.  But these are not normal times… these are times when people need the grounding which our faith and our faith practices offer.



And I wonder, are there people who did not feel comfortable, for whatever reason, entering the unfamiliar space of a church building, who might be visiting online, looking to see what this Christianity thing is all about? It is too soon to jump to conclusions about that, but sometimes new life appears in the strangest of places.

In the midst of these strangest of times, we are being opened up to new things. Maybe it is easier to try new things when we can’t do the things we usually do. Or the disruption in familiar routines challenges us to find meaningful ways of spending our time. Here are just a few of the things that have inspired me:

• The GO Project Virtual Camp, which started as a March break camp quickly adapted to an online format in light of public health directives preventing physical gathering, and continues through this time of continued restrictions.
• The UCW members east of Toronto who are responding to a “100 Day Challenge” to do something fun outside everyday for 100 days, no matter how small. There is a promise of rewards at the end… I don’t know what they have in mind but I am pretty sure that the greatest reward will be in a lifestyle that includes time outdoors every day, having fun!
• The Indigenous Elders Council, whose first gathering was held electronically, and who felt called to offer a prayer for the church in these times.
• Online and virtual worship services that help us connect the unfamiliar realities of life in a pandemic world with the timeless and always relevant themes of our sacred texts. (And bonus that we can attend more than one church service in a given week with so many online now!)
• All those who, in such uncertain times, have made special gifts to congregations or for the support of community ministries which serve the most vulnerable in our society.
• Staff colleagues from the General Council Office and Regional Council Offices who have been problem solving, calmly and intensely, figuring out new ways to meet our obligations and provide support to the church as a whole.
• The General Council Executive who met last Saturday (by Zoom of course), in the midst of such a difficult and uncertain time, to make the decisions that needed to be made for our denomination.
• Those in communities of faith who are delivering groceries for those who can’t get out, calling each other, praying for one another, and finding a whole range of creative ways of maintaining the community connections that are so much a part of church life.

God is with us. We are not alone. Thanks be to God.

Blessings,

Nora

Nora Sanders is General Secretary of The United Church of Canada.