Time spent limited to our own homes and immediate neighbourhoods has had a profound impact on everyone. Those who struggle with loneliness can’t wait to be able to gather with others again. Those who have challenging family relationships have been pushed to the brink, and in some cases, beyond. There are other situations where new connections have been built or existing ones strengthened as we have been forced to pay attention to what is geographically closest to us.
“Church life” and “regular life” are not two separate experiences. The people in our congregations have so much to share in the variety of their stories of life in the past few months. These stories need to be a part of informing what congregational life should look like going forward. The Spirit has been at work even when our church buildings have been closed.
What are the people in your congregation saying about life in the past few months? What are they lamenting? What are they giving thanks for? And in all of those stories, the stories of people going about their everyday living, where are the threads of the work of the Spirit showing up? How are those threads starting to be woven together? What does all that mean for the church as we move forward?