Dear Ones of St. Columba's,

A few years ago a reporter from a religious news publication came to St. C's to interview a group of our leadership about the congregation. At the time I was our only clergy person, and as many of you know I have never been full time here. For my whole tenure so far as your Vicar I have also worked directly for The Bishop's Office as the person in charge of Congregational Development. This reporter was interviewing leaders at congregations who were thriving with part time clergy, and was especially interested in the growth we were experiencing. 

As we sat around a table and answered the questions posed to us, a truth about our community emerged that I had not yet put to words. "What is St. Columba's greatest strength as a community?" the reporter asked. And around the table, leader after leader answered with some version of "We are very flexible. We can adapt and change. We aren't stuck in our ways."  This is a true thing about us - as a community, we know how to stretch. 

Flexibility is something I've been working on during this pandemic, and I'm not just talking metaphorically. All of the sitting around on zoom makes my joints stiff and my muscles hurt, so I have started a regular stretching routine. It's just 8 minutes long, which means I can find time to do it almost every day.  The crazy thing is, that 8 minutes of stretching has made a noticeable difference. I hurt less. I have more mobility. I feel confident that if I needed to catch myself while falling or respond quickly my physical self is now more capable of flexing. 

This pandemic and the systemic brokenness that has been exposed during this time has required a lot of heavy lifting for us as a community. It is hard and painful. And yet - all those little ways we have practiced adapting, flexing, stretching our selves in the years that led up to this have given us capacity to stretch. If you are like me, perhaps right about now you are getting muscle fatigue with all the adapting and flexing. And, I am continually amazed and blessed by this community's willingness to try, to stretch, to adapt, and to continue to stay connected, stay church, and take care of each other right now. 

Friends let's not stop practicing flexibility together. In the days and weeks to come I have no doubt things will change yet again. We trained for this, through little things like changing up our space every year, and bigger things like working hard to learn how to be in relationship in safe and empowering ways with our most vulnerable neighbors and in all the ways we loved each other regularly and well when we could see, hug and feed each other in person. I believe will all my heart we will one day do those things again. And in the meantime - we know how to stretch.

with care and gratitude,

Alissa+