Love in the Time of Corona, Chapter 3
Dear Friends,
Sometime after our foray into Sanctuary work, a friend gave me a copy of a recent novel, A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles. It tells the story of Count Alexander Rostov, sentenced in the wake of the Russian Revolution to an indefinite period of house arrest at a Moscow hotel. Months stretch into years, and then into decades. The novel is a chronicle of the ways the Count not only survives his confinement, but thrives during it. I won’t reveal the details of the plot, save to say that as the Count’s external world becomes smaller, his inner world becomes expansive. After an initial period of chafing under his sentence, the Count uses the resources available to him to become more creative and imaginative, to become more generous, and to become more wise. Count Alexander Rostov grows into his humanity as a result of his confinement. It’s a book worth reading in your own time of (relative) confinement.
When I read the novel I thought it an excellent metaphor for the experience of Sanctuary. These days, it has become an excellent metaphor for the experience of social distancing. None of us knows, of course, how long this moment of self-isolation will last. But we might learn, as the Count did, to use the experience well. For example, rather than endless scrolling through news feeds, dwelling upon the latest downturn in your stock portfolio, or binge watching shows on Netflix, why not use the newfound time creatively? Learn or practice an instrument. Study a new language. Read a classic novel. Exercise by walking through the forests that are all around us. Learn to cook a new kind of cuisine. Reach out to old friends. Give yourself to a project you wouldn’t ordinarily have the time to pursue. Ride this time, instead of letting it ride over you.
That’s something of what we’re attempting in this moment of Love in the Time of Corona. We’re going to continue our practice of online worship services in one form or another. We’d like to try to offer them live in the coming weeks, though I suspect new strictures around gathering with others will force us to reconfigure how we offer those services. So too, we’ll continue offering mid-week conversations with wisdom keepers in our midst, though again, we may need to experiment with the format of those conversations. Calls and check-ins will continue with our team of caregivers, and we have a team of volunteers ready to respond to those with immediate and pressing needs. Our food pantry remains open on Saturday mornings thanks to our dedicated volunteers, and our Board of Deacons even prepared meals to be dropped off at the New London Soup Kitchen. While much in our lives has ground to a halt, we’re doing our best to meet the ongoing needs within our community in this strange new time.
But there are other possibilities that are also coming into focus. Many of us have become acquainted with the online communications platform Zoom over the past week. This coming week, our community will begin using that platform for virtual gatherings as a way of allowing us all to remain connected. A few of the offerings, which I expect will be expanded in the weeks to come, are listed below.
In addition to these offerings, we are making plans for our Palm Sunday and Easter services, though we’re not yet sure what configuration those will take. Much will depend on how the situation unfolds in the coming days, and whether further restrictions on gathering will be prudent. We’ll share more information when we have it.
That’s where we are for now. If you have any immediate needs, don’t be afraid to reach out. We’re here. We’ll see you, or speak to you, virtually in the coming days. We’ll continue to communicate through the website, emails, videos, Zoom, and calls. And we’ll hope to see you in the flesh sometime soon. In the meantime, take care of yourself. Stay at home as much as possible. Ride the time, rather than letting it ride you. And know that you are loved.
Love in the Time of Corona …
Steve, Laura and Carleen
