A Letter from Lindy Aug 2
Pilgrims,
My dreams this week have been filled with strangers with whom/what I seem to be wrestling nightly. The context in which I find my dreaming self changes, as does the stranger, but wrestling always seems to be a part of our dance.
Some mornings I awaken mid-wrestle, some I’m left on the ground, the stranger no where to be found, some mornings I rise limping away. What an apt image for this time—whether our anxiety fueled stranger is coronavirus, unemployment, white supremacy, police and federal violence against protestors, the election, isolation—we have many. With whom or what are you wrestling these days as July comes to a close and the landscape of the next few months feels eerily unchanging?
A few disciplines the Wood family has (finally) instituted with consistency to manage our wrestling, some of you may have been practicing all along. Better late than never in finding your groove. The month of July has brought daily meditation, high intensity workouts and yoga into our days. Short bursts 10-15 minutes to shake and shock our systems into more attentive, deliberate rhythm. They are helping set better markers and patterns to the seeming shapelessness of our days and weeks.
Another life-giving practice has been pastoral check-ins with you—one on one, outdoors. Committed to honoring our community’s closed campus and following health and safety best guidelines, meeting outdoors has also become a discipline, even amidst soaring temperatures. Many of you have discovered my preference for walking/talking meetings, masked and moving.
Expanding this discipline was the impetus behind the idea I floated last week about creating small Pilgrim groups. Thank all of you who gave me feedback.
To answer a few of your questions, let me fill in some details. The groups can be both online and in person, depending upon folks' comfort level. In fact, we will match people accordingly. We, of course, will honor and celebrate small groups that already meet. The Reopening Team is looking at ways to make Pilgrim’s campus more conducive for outdoor gatherings so as to take finding a location out of the equation. The next step is to find out who is interested in joining this experiment.
If you would take the time to email Marty (puccdurham@gmail.com) and indicate 1) interested or not 2) in-person or online 3) already in a group and which one.
With this data, we can begin developing next steps.
Additionally, would you also include whether you would be interested in participating in an in-person communion service, so we can assess whether and how to plan for its potentiality.
Please know, my beloved Pilgrims, there is no right or wrong answer. Wherever you find yourself, I stand with you and honor your need. Knowing where you stand helps me be a better pastor with you.
Peace,
Pastor Lindy