From the Pastor's Pen

Dear friends,

The scripture in my mind today is from Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 but especially the first verse: “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.”  Life really is full of a plethora of activities and happenings both good and bad.  Sometimes our lives almost feel like a paradox.

So today, on the one hand I am cut to the heart that we have passed the 500,000 number of deaths from Covid 19 in this country.  How can we have lost half a million people?  And on the other hand, Indiana has now dropped the age eligibility for the vaccine to 60 and my husband and I now have appointments on the near horizon to be vaccinated.  I feel relieved and grateful for these miraculous vaccines. Is it ok to feel both grieved at the terrible loss of life from this virus while also feeling relieved that my time has come to be vaccinated?  I think it is.  Life is full of paradox.

I also learned today that a friend from my youth is very ill.  I am so sorry he is going through so much struggle in these days.  At the same time I am aware another friend is expecting a baby and I rejoice for her.  Someone I know is fighting cancer.  Another is recovering well from the death of a loved one.  The Covid numbers in Elkhart county have been climbing slightly over the past week, but wow, have you noticed the sunshine today?  Everything is melting.  Life is paradox.  It is both joy and sorrow, challenge and relief.

I think this is part of what the writer of Ecclesiastes had determined… that we live with joy and sorrow, challenge and hope, and God is in the middle of all of it.  God is in the middle of this life in abundance that he has given to us in all its flavors.   Here’s the full passage from Ecclesiastes:

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.  Ecc. 3: 1-8

Peace to you,

Pr. Sally