Letter from Lindy Easter Sunday Apr 17

Hello Pilgrims,

Yesterday was my monthly clergy collective meeting where a group of Durham female lead pastors have gathered for the better part of my tenure. We are colleagues that have become friends along the way, creating a circle where we can name and claim the complexities and struggles and confusions and joys of ministering. Holy Week probably wasn’t the most opportune time for any of us, but gosh to have an hour respite during the busiest of weeks to share what we are feeling… in the words of a long-ago ad… priceless. Many had the myriad of bulletins strewn across their desk for final review for the multiple services each community lives into this week. For some, like us, it is Maundy Thursday, for others it is Good Friday. All of us comparing how we are handling Easter Sunday amidst. We are not alone in our desire to safely welcome as many folx as possible, thus many making the call to hold services outdoors, praying fervently against April Showers. Pilgrim included. Our Easter worship melds our outdoor Sunrise Service with our indoor traditional service, taking parts of each to make a whole. The time: 10:30am, the space: Pilgrim Patio and on Zoom. We hope you will feel comfortable joining us. Masks for this outdoor service are not necessary, but welcome. Fellowship to follow.

It was interesting that all of us were also stressing unexpectedly about how many will actually show up, even when we have been schooled not to focus on the numbers. Yet amidst pandemic, with no firm grasp on who was tuning in to stay connected and who wanted to be connected but could not tune in because Zoom dominated every other aspect of their lives and who had fallen or stepped away, numbers became a way of deciphering where people were. Hard to be in those conversations without feeling like church police. And then we started opening the campus, outdoor, then indoor, in addition to our inclusive embrace with zoom alternative. None of my colleagues, along with Pilgrim, are seeing the return to community that they had hoped for. And the reasons vary within and between each community. What was palpable this session was our collective hope that maybe, just maybe, Easter this year would turn people out in new ways –with vaccines, good grasp on protocols, even as current numbers are trending higher than we would like. Our communal prayer was the hope of finding a way forward together to transition from pandemic to endemic, learning to live with COVID. Adapting and adjusting as needed along the way. Our COVID team will meet, as promised, after Easter to discuss anew whether our protocols should change given where Durham is currently. We will keep you posted and pray that you support the recommendation of this tireless team.

This has always been our hope at Pilgrim–that the decisions we make are with an eye and heart on the most vulnerable in our community. Although we are not the only masking and distancing and outdoor fellowshipping church in Durham, by any means, we know there are those who have taken steps beyond us before now. And that diversity is ok because it is reflective of the individuality of each community and where they find themselves.

As part of that more vulnerable population, I am grateful for the care and caution Pilgrim has taken. Each time I see us gather, masked up, I offer a prayer of thanksgiving to God to be wrapped in a beloved community that truly holds love of neighbor as dearly as love of self. When I talked about the intentional care of Pilgrim to folks I know in Orlando and beyond, their response is often a fervent wish it could be so in the communities in which they find themselves. They deem us special and lucky to be so deep into the practice of discipleship.

so very true, I respond with joy.
Pastor Lindy (she/her)whypronouns matter

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