It was like a high school reunion.
Sunday morning in our Gathering Area after worship and then again that afternoon on our southeast Cross Lawn for our Community Barbecue, people returned in person for the first time in a long time. There was an awkwardness, like what you would experience at your high school reunion:
What will it be like to see folks again after so many years?
What will it be like when they see me?
How do we start the conversation?
Where do we begin when asked, "So how's it been going over the last ___ years?”
What will people think?
How will I be judged?
Will it feel like high school all over again?
Ugh! The strangeness and uncertainty are palpable.
But where kindness and curiosity prevail, the conversation proceeds and leads to new or renewed connections and common ground of comfort and affirmation. Like that high school reunion, it does not happen all at once, but it happens and can be the beginning of a whole new level of maturing relationship. That's what God's sanctifying grace does when we give it a chance: it gently moves us closer to God and closer to one another with acceptance, kindness and love.
So thank you for reaching and reintroducing yourselves to one another during this Lenten season as we discover new or renewed personal relationships after years away and across screens. There is so much to be gained in these holy reunions. It's been a long time in the wilderness, but I am looking forward to Easter's dawn and new life.
See you at the church reunions,
