From the General Presbyter

Is everybody miserable? Cranky? Irritable? Reactive?

My high school graduate came home after two hours of work at her restaurant job complaining bitterly that it was “slow” and so they sent employees home. Oh, the first world problems of the teenager who is fully subsidized by her mother.

And yet others, who rely on the job to pay bills were sent home as well. That’s a problem. The racial justice protests are alive and well. COVID-19 has come roaring back in the south and in the west. Pastors and church leaders are stressed. Heck, even the Commissioners at General Assembly are feeling it.

We know that almost of this is situational. Still, there is much turmoil.

I attended the General Assembly Bible study led by James Elisha Taneti and Mary Florence Taneti. The focus was on Lamentations 5: 21-22 which relates to the GA theme “From Lament to Hope.” I wonder, perhaps if all of this emotional upheaval has its roots in lament.

I imagine many of your congregations are holding steady until the fall when you have a reopening plan. Some may have already regathered taking precautions. Others have decided not to regather until 2021. Regardless, it is different, and it should be! We are essentially fighting for our lives and trying to get back to normal.

But that’s not possible, at least right now. And that’s tough.

Our Bible study leaders offered this formula: we lament, feel angry, protest and hope. That about sums it up.

We don’t hope after lament. We hope during lament. I don’t know how that works, but it does. So, lament. It’s appropriate. But hope too!

– Jackie