Letter from Lindy March 6

Hello Pilgrims,

I parked myself at my mom’s this afternoon to keep an eye on her as her energy level has been shaky as she fights an unexpected shingles diagnosis—the cause of her feeling so puny last week during my sister’s visit. The positive note of this unfortunate development is that none of the symptoms are immunotherapy related which was our fear. The other silver lining is that unlike most sufferers of shingles, my mom is experiencing no pain, just feeling “off”. Thank goodness for small blessings. We look for them amidst, don’t we? They give us hooks to hold onto.

She must be having a better day because she was nowhere to be found when I got here and 2 hours later, she has not wandered back to her apartment, which is more her daily rhythm of being out and about, always engaged in activity. So I sit here writing this newsletter, as I await her reappearance. As I do, I get excited for the wonderful service planned for this Sunday. I hope you join us either in person or virtually. As we mark the first Sunday of Lent, we will do so as we did last year, celebrating International Women’s Day with Pilgrim’s Auxiliary leading us in worship. This year’s theme #BreakTheBias weaves beautifully into Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness because how often have women been subjugated to the temptation to not push against sexist and patriarchal structures and systems designed to hold them back from claiming and celebrating their gifts, strengths and true selves. We will hear three brave stories of those who broke the bias in their life journey, while other members will lead us through our liturgy inviting us to God’s holy Table. I can’t wait!

As Durham rolls back COVID mandates, our team has prayed and discussed what might be the best approach for Pilgrim. As always, we will move with caution and care, keeping in mind the whole of the community to ensure that we continue to surround our most vulnerable. To that extent, we are asking Pilgrims who join in person worship to remain masked so as to protect our unvaccinated, especially our youngest worshippers. We want them, and their families, feeling safe back among us, and to ensure their protection amidst, being masked makes it so.

We will maintain the protocol of the deacons welcoming us to worship and sharing any announcements so as to limit the number of people sharing a microphone. Prayers of the people will remain through written prayer cards and chat before/during the service, as also will our offering collection for now. Communion will also continue with individual elements in the narthex for you to partake during worship. We will, however, invite you to pass the peace with your fellow Pilgrims during the postlude at the conclusion of worship, honoring our dot communication system. To help our fellowship team, we will invite the hosts to prepare and set our fellowship goodies in fellowship hall, but invite you to unmask and partake enjoying our spring weather outside. We will return to multiple use restrooms. As always, we have our gender neutral/handicap accessible restroom at the end of the education hallway.

We will move through the season of Lent with this adapted protocol, monitoring how the Pilgrim community feels as a whole. We know some (ok, perhaps many) are ready to be done with masks, but we ask that your love for your fellow pilgrims transcend the annoyance.

Our plan currently is to hold our Easter service outside on the patio, so that we can welcome more people and be unmasked to celebrate the risen Christ among us. Instead of two services (sunrise and traditional, with pancake breakfast in between), We will have one worship service (10:30) with coffee available before and a lovely fellowship thereafter. I pray we lean into our Lenten journey together.

with love,
Pastor Lindy (she/her)whypronouns matter

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