Dear One’s of St. C’s, 

I miss us all together.  I am sad that when we do come together again it will be masked, socially distant, and without singing or Eucharist. But I am so thankful that we will be able to meet in person on July 5th (weather permitting)! It has been three months of not being together and we don’t know how long until we can all feast together and talk without masks.  I remember when the pandemic first started and I would watch tv shows with crowded spaces I would think, “oh no, that’s not safe.”  I’ve noticed as of recently that feeling has gone away.  As my family has mostly sheltered in our home and we have cancelled all indoor activities we are almost moving into a new normal and sometimes I can forget the grief of this time.  

In Family Systems Theory there is a belief that families seek after an equilibrium or homeostasis.  The online Marriage and Family Encyclopedia puts it this way, “The concept of equilibrium explains how families strive for a sense of balance between the challenges they confront and the resources of the family.*”  I take this a bit further and believe that as humans we are always looking for equilibrium.  This equilibrium is not always healthy, just, or right, but we subconsciously seek after it none the less.  I feel myself seeking equilibrium during this unprecedented time.  I saw a meme recently that said, “I cannot wait to live a precedented time again.”  And oh man, do I relate.  

As we try to normalize our lives and cope with the challenges ahead of us, let us be aware of who continues to suffer and the ways that we continue to suffer.  We need to face our grief and the injustice in our world or it will show up in unexpected places masked as something else.  

In one of our Eucharistic Prayers it says, “Deliver us from the presumption of coming to this Table for solace only, and not for strength; for pardon only, and not for renewal.”  During this time many of us have been sad about our own life predicaments and the injustice done to the black people in our country and our community.  But if we come to the table, or to our faith, or to our lives with only sadness and a plea for forgiveness, but not the strength to take care of each other or the ability to turn from our unjust ways then we have missed the deep well that our faith has to offer us.  Injustice makes our God angry.  It is not the way of God.  So as we are pulled into our homeostasis, let us resist.  I especially speak to the white people within our community when I say, remember our fellow black citizens, neighbors, and parishioners and the injustices both structural and in their lives that impact them everyday.  I close with this prayer.  God, please send all of us strength and renewal.  Give us strength to truly seek justice and to love mercy in our daily lives.  Transform our seeing and our hearing so that we can walk humbly by your side, always in the way of justice and peace for all.  

Peace to You, 

Meghan 

* <https://family.jrank.org/pages...>