Letters from Lockdown

It took me ages to get into podcasts. Ok, true confession, for the longest time I didn’t know how they “worked” and was too embarrassed to ask anyone. Once I finally figured it out, I became a longtime fan of both the Moth and Snap Judgement. Both are storytelling podcasts in which people tell their true stories. While normally I catch up on my listening when driving to and from the San Gabriel Valley weekly to see family, I am not doing that so much. Now listen on my daily walks. I highly recommend Snap Judgements two episodes on “Letters from Lockdown” where those who have previously lived in lockdown tell their stories. This doesn’t make our current situation better, but it does give perspective when a former prisoner from Guantanamo talks about using humor to survive. It has had me pondering for the past week, what is it that we all need to “survive” our current form of isolation?

My number one need beside food and water is faith. All of us need to hold strong to our faith. As Christians we believe first and foremost in the resurrection. We may not know exactly what resurrection looks like or exactly how it happens, but we have faith that it does. I see the lifting of our lockdown as a form of current day resurrection. We do not know what it looks like or when or how it will happen. But we all know it WILL happen at some point. I was on a call with the LA County Department of Public Health on Friday, they said they didn’t know when exactly the restrictions would start to be lifted, and they recognized that not everyone was going to be able to stick with our current social distancing policies. They admitted that at some point people would get fed up, start making their own rules, and sadly put the greater population at risk. So the policies will be shifted to care for the greater population at some point.

Faith also reminds us to have grace with one another, even our enemy, even those who we think don’t deserve this. I look at online comments from people on NextDoor or the Hermosa Residents Facebook page and I cringe at the name calling, the shaming and blaming. Those are not response of faith, no matter how indignant we are that we are right, and science is on our side. To survive, we need to use our faith to be a purveyor, an example, a reminder to extend grace to one another.

I know the day will arrive when we will come out of this time of isolation, of lockdown. When we do, we will all be changed, as that is a part of resurrection. We will all have our own true stories those that provoke laughter and those that pool the tears in our eyes. We will be changed, and we will continue to live, faithfully.

See you at 7 pm every night for Compline and at St. Cross Live for service Sunday at 10 am.

Peace,
Rev. Rachel+

PS: Speaking of podcasts, catch up with our sermons podcast! Here is the link to St. Cross on Apple Podcasts and here are the sermons on our website.