Message from Rev. Melanie for March 2022
Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
--Isaiah 43:19
We have come to the season of Lent, traditionally a time of introspection, reflection, and preparation. The 40 days of Lent represent the 40 days Jesus fasted in the wilderness and faced temptations to give up his moral and spiritual compass in favor of luxury and power.
We too have spent some time in the wilderness. In just a few weeks we will mark the end of the second year of pandemic restrictions. Most of us have not fasted--we have not gone hungry for food--but we have gone hungry for the presence of others. We have missed so much, simple things like (quite literally) showing our faces in public, luxuries like eating in restaurants, and life-affirming things like freely celebrating milestone events with family and friends. We have wondered if we are safe from infection and we have had ups and downs as the number of cases has fallen, risen, and fallen again. We wonder if life will ever be normal. We wonder what normal even is.
This is the wilderness, where we don't know everything, where we cannot have everything we want in the time that we want it, where we are deprived of what we believe we need and live in fear of wild viruses attacking.
But the wilderness is rich too. There is much to be learned in the wilderness. We have learned new ways of being together, even if those ways are not the same as being together in the same room. We have learned new ways to be church together and expanded our ideas of who the church is. Who would have predicted two years ago that our moderator would live 400 miles southeast of the church and the vice moderator 150 miles to the northeast? Who would have thought that people could attend church while away visiting family? Who knew that we could have meetings that didn't require a drive to the church or that we could stay home in our jammies on Christmas Eve or a rainy Sunday morning and still worship together?
We don't know what "normal" is going to look like, but it does look like we are getting closer to creating/discovering that new normal. As we wander in the wilderness these next 40 days, let's reflect on what normal looks like. Let's consider what it was in the past, what we need to continue, and what new amazing things might happen. Above all, let us leave room for the Spirit of God who ushered us into the wilderness to show us the way out. Meanwhile let's appreciate the beauty of the wilderness itself and the abundant, if elusive, life to be found here.
--Rev. Melanie Weiner
Senior Minister
Skyland Community Church
(408)353-1310
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Skyland Community Church, United Church of Christ
25100 Skyland Road
Los Gatos, CA 95033
phone: 408-353-1310
USPS mail: Skyland Church
P.O. Box 245
Los Gatos, CA 95031-0245
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