Dear One’s of St. C’s, 

Pop up church last week was so lovely.  To gather together and look out during a service to see the people of our church in one place was an immense blessing for me.  I also held in mind all the people who were not there and gave my thanks for all of you.  

Everything seems a bit suspended in the air in the moment.  Five months into this pandemic and I think my biggest disappointment is how COVID-19 has further divided us as a nation.  I had great hope when this first began that something that so universally affects us all would finally bring us together in the United States and in the world.  We would have to face the fact that we are all connected and we would work together to beat this virus and live safely together once again.  I had great hope that this collective action would change us forever.  

But again and again when I read the news and talk to my neighbors the conversations seem to more focused on how no one is on the same page than on how we are all in this together.  At the beginning of this pandemic I could not have fathomed how politics and our choices around mitigating risk of spreading this virus would divide us.  And this makes me so deeply sad.  

I am listening to these feminist lectures based off of the book, “Caliban and the Witch”, by Silvia Federici, right now and the teacher, Dr. Kimberly George, talks about how capitalism thrives off of dividing people by difference and creating hierarchies.  And now I see this everywhere I look.  Our God is found in the coming together not in the tearing apart.  And yet, we are so tempted to divide, we work against ourselves and each other.  The fact that we do not have a cohesive national response to this crisis is fueling the flames for creating divisions everywhere we look.  Even between close friends and family members who are responding to risk differently during this time.  

My prayer for you and for me is to notice these divisions and these judgements and to wonder about what coming together could look like.  How could we notice difference without it leading to division and hierarchies (having to decide who is better)?  We are all connected, no belief system and no worldview can change this.  As much as we disagree and create difference within humanity, we cannot change the fact that our actions impact one another.  Let us seek to live as though we belong to God and our neighbor.  

with care, 

Meghan