Dear Friends,

Maybe it’s because in my own life, waiting has been a “normal”, this is not as hard for me. I won’t bore you with the list of all that I’ve waited for in my life, but I will tell you there is a spiritual discipline about waiting. Around Advent, we talk a lot about waiting. It’s the season for waiting for Christ’s birth, but also Scriptures in the lectionary talk about how we are all waiting for Christ’s second coming. We live in the “already” and “not yet”. God’s Kingdom is already here. Christ lives now in our hearts. The Spirit is palpable and visible in the movements, words, situations and happenings of our lives. God is already here. And Christ is coming. So, we wait. 

Now we wait for mandates of social distancing and quarantines to be lifted. We especially wait for this virus to leave, go away. We wait for medications of hopeful relief tested for use soon and vaccines created for prevention in the future. We wait in our homes, only going out to get takeout, groceries, prescriptions. Since I’m practiced at waiting, I would like to offer you some coping strategies. First, make a schedule of sorts. Keep to your bedtime and your time of waking up. Even if you don’t sleep well, get up in the morning so that your body stays in a rhythm. Eat how you normally eat. Keep things as “normal” for you as you can.

Dear Friends,

After being ordained in the Presbyterian Church, USA in 1990, it wasn’t until about the year 1996 or so when I served as an interim pastor in my first United Church of Christ. Point Place UCC in Toledo, Ohio was a very warm, welcoming congregation to say the least. My first Sunday, I received over 75 hugs and kisses on the cheek, which was the normal way of greeting each other in that church. It wasn’t just me; it was everyone who walked through the door. This Presbyterian pastor was in a bit of a love rush shock after being there! I wondered if all UCC churches were as affectionate as this one. (answer: no, but all seem very welcoming) While interim pastor of that church, I attended the UCC clergy cluster where I saw that the clergy were full of trust and love for each other. This was very different from the Presbyterian church where it felt to me as if clergy were competing with each other. I went to Association meetings which were far different from the very business-filled Presbytery meetings. My next interim was also UCC church in Findlay, Ohio, so a different but clergy cluster. Two members of the Toledo cluster called me, begging me to continue to attend their cluster because they missed me and cared about me. This UCC church was growing on me! After that interim position, I served both Presbyterian and UCC congregations as an interim pastor, so I asked for “dual standing” in both denominations, which I was granted after meeting with Committee on Ministry in NW Ohio Association. And eventually, in 2001, I dropped the PCUSA standing and became fully UCC. It was like going from high heels to slippers.