from the homestead, August 26, 2020

Dearly beloveds, siblings in Christ, the family of God’s own choosing whom I long to see and touch and dance with —

I hope this letter finds you strong in your conviction that the world still belongs to God; I hope you are reading it after a good night’s sleep and a good day’s work; and I hope you are sharing it with people whom you love, and who love you back.

But I know for many of us, those hopes are mere wishes in this strange season. We aren’t sleeping well, or waking well; our time at work or school does not inspire us; our relationships are under significant strain, and we are seriously lonely; and in the worst hours we’re not sure that God or anyone else is at work on our behalf.

I’ve said lately that the baseline of our collective mental and spiritual health has dropped a few floors. If there is any small comfort, it is this: we are in the shit together. We said, on the Sundays of Lent before the pandemic, that there is solidarity in vulnerability. Jesus joined our vulnerability, and we have extended the same to each other. If we are sad and anxious, we are sad and anxious together in a whole new way, now.

That’s why the Missional Logistics Team, in our regular meeting last week, had such a long and difficult conversation about whether and for how long to extend our Phase One term. In Phase One, all gatherings of the church are online only.

By way of reminder, we have imagined Phase Two as a time when we invite small groups of G-people back to the Big Red Barn for Sunday worship, with all kinds of restrictions like social distancing, masking, temperature-taking, no singing, etc. Our hearts long for that transition, but we also dread it, knowing that Phase Two gatherings will feel weird and wrong. Maybe it would be worth it, just to occupy the same space as people we love for a little while… But.

But. Rationally, we finally agreed: it’s just not safe. We know that the best conditions for sharing this highly contagious and strangely powerful virus are (1) large groups of people (2) gathered in enclosed spaces (3) for an extended period of time (4) interacting with each other. Which is pretty much a perfect description of the church gathered for worship.

So. With heavy sighs and heavy hearts, we came to the consensus that Galileo Church will remain in Phase One, gathering online only, through the end of 2020. By then we should know better how the opening of schools and other large-group gatherings have affected viral spread. We are sickened by the reality that schoolkids and educators will bear the risk we all want to avoid. But we would feel foolish if we jumped too quickly into our own gatherings, creating risk for so many who would come back if invited, after all these months of extreme isolation for safety’s sake. To end our Phase One too soon would negate the benefit of the many months of suffering we have already endured.

So the Missional Logistics Team, the Spiritual Care Team, and your pastoral staff are pleading with you: let us persevere for a while longer, always prayerful for the development of treatment and vaccine against the virus, always careful to do our part for the sake of the most vulnerable in the human family. And please, consider these strengths that are yours to draw on while we wait:

If you have not been engaging worship online, because it’s harder (it is! we know!) or just doesn’t feel like the real thing – please reconsider. There are some who worship with our church who will only ever connect with us over a screen, and they’re glad for the opportunity. We who are privileged to enjoy the embodied, IRL church can offer real empathy to those who can’t — if we’ve lived their experience for ourselves. People from all over are being drawn to the good news that God’s love is real, for them, and worth it through our online worship. Our presence in that virtual space is a good gift we offer to each other, and it’s so much better when more of us are there.
Our main infrastructure for doing “real relationship, no bullshit ever” — i.e. covenantal G-groups, where 8-10 adults gather weekly to share life, pray for each other, and study the way of Jesus — is going strong. We all have Zoom fatigue; we’re all “over it” with respect to imagining that relationships are just the same over a screen; we’ve all learned how easy it is to not commit to connecting. But I’ve been in two G-groups for several months now, and I’m telling you, they are giving me life. When people share the details of their life, their work, their worries, and their hopes, the screen kind of melts away and we enjoy a bright little blip of community. It’s lovely. If you haven’t already signed up for a Fall G-group, and really made up your mind to do it, even the weeks you don’t feel like it, it’s not too late. We start the week of September 7. Look at all your options here, and check a couple of boxes. You won’t be sorry.

3. Galileo Church’s reasons-for-being continue, even while so much of our way-of-being is throttled. We’re still doing justice for LGBTQ+ people – like tomorrow, when we’re writing letters in support of LGBTQ+ inclusion in Texas sex education curriculum. Just yesterday I told a digital newcomer that indeed, we could promise kindness toward the neurodiversity they named. Our worship remains beautiful, and the tech for transmitting that beauty is within our reach. We’ve got a deep well of trustworthy, no-bullshit relationships to nourish, even when the IRL infrastructure is busted. And we’re doing everything we know how to share this good news with the world God still loves.

Because God’s work goes on, church. The arc of the moral universe still bends toward justice. You are still so loved, so valuable, so cherished. And yes, it’s quite likely that you are more lonely right now than you’ve ever been. Please know that we know, that it feels the same for us, and that the very moment it is safe to breathe each other’s air we will waste no time throwing the biggest party our church has ever seen.

Hold on tight till then. Keep the faith. “By your endurance you will gain your souls,” Jesus said one time (Luke 21:19). I’m pretty sure he didn’t have this scenario in mind, but I’m taking him at his word.

grace and peace,

Katie (for the Missional Logistics Team, the Spiritual Care Team, and the pastoral staff)

Still Online Only, and It F***ing Sucks