Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us also lay aside every weight … and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.
— Hebrews 12:1
One year ago, when I sent out our annual pledge in-gathering letter, we were still coming to grips with the new world reality of lock-downs, Covid-19 testing, mask-wearing and perpetual vigilance against a tricky, invisible enemy. To top it all off, we were then, as we still are, sifting relevant scientific information from misinformation and conspiracy theories. I said then in the understatement of the year, “Our pledge in-gathering comes at a difficult time.”It is still difficult, of course. Yet, you have not let the difficulty of these days crush you; through perplexing times, you have remained steadfast. Though I care never to repeat last year’s week-in-week-out Zoom worship situation, I will look back upon that time (when we’re finally out of the woods, and the threat of a return to Zoom is past) with some affection. I would often find myself leaning into the screen, in an effort to see your faces more closely and to take strength from your presence. You were for me, as I hope we all were for each other, a veritable cloud of witnesses.
Curiously, the Letter to the Hebrews was written to a church under their own set of crushing difficulties. It wasn’t a pandemic, it was a persecution, and the threat of death and dissolution must have been hard to bear. The author’s fine point is one you’ve heard me repeat often — through mutual love, we’ll get through this. By continuing to be a church with concern for each other and by offering hospitality to others, by acting with a sense of generosity and large-heartedness we bear testimony to what he calls salvation, but which really just means life — the life that really is life.
The church leadership teams and I have decided to persevere with in-person worship trusting that as the delta variant tapers off, which, as of this writing it seems to be doing, and as a vaccine becomes available for children under 12, we will gradually, comfortably and naturally return to a more normal worship and community life together.
Last month, a few weeks after the church was painted, I ran into someone I know from about town. I don’t know her well, and have only had a handful of conversations with her in the 21 years I’ve lived here and never about the church or religion. She inquired about how things were at the church, and I told her that we were fairing pretty well. She noted that the church looked so beautiful and she thanked me for allowing the kind of genuine, open-hearted community we are, to be. She told me that she was raised a Catholic and will not set foot in the church again, but that she was grateful for our church being a light on the hill and thereby important to her as a community member.
We have been the light on the hill in this community for 220 years. Floods have not drowned us out. Covid will not extinguish it. Year in and year out, members and friends of this church have offered their generous support to this extraordinary reality, that God does not regard us from our frailty, and that God has no favorites, loving all equally with a love that will not end. That’s what it means for us to be the light on the hill. And that is why we are free to support the church so generously and persistently and in such good faith today.
Please offer your continuing support by filling out and sending in the included pledge card by November 1. Included with this letter you will also find a brief description of last years’ budget. It is your budget of mutual love, and the Board of Finance thanks you for your generosity which makes it possible.
May the peace that passes all understanding and the love that never ends, go with you and hold you close.
Love,
Peter