I know that there is nothing better for them than to be happy and enjoy themselves as long as they live; 
moreover, it is God’s gift that all should eat and drink and take pleasure in all their toil –Ecclesiastes 3:12-13

This week I learned from Facebook that two of our members have received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.  As health care workers both are in the 1a category, first in line to be vaccinated.  

This is glad news.  We are all grateful for our healthcare workers, and we understand that we wear masks, practice social distancing, and wash hands not only to keep ourselves, families, and friends safe, but to protect healthcare workers and the capacity of our hospitals. 

This glad news also suggests that this time of isolation will end in 2021.  Most people I talk with hope the vaccine will reach us by middle to late spring, in time for children to return to school in fall.  

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven, says Ecclesiastes.  We are learning through this season of pandemic how very hard it is to trust ourselves to God’s time–we desperately want to this season to end, our desperation making us vulnerable to the illusion that we are in control of time, or that we need not live in time with others, or share with them our mutual, human vulnerability to time.  

And yet we are also likely to miss the resolution of the problem of time; God wants us to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we live and take pleasure in food and wine and companionship, for our lives are not merely about toil and sacrifice and waiting for a better time.  

Surely, 2021 will be a better year; we all pray that it will be.  But no matter how time is shaped by vaccine distribution, one thing I know for sure: when this time comes at last, we will experience what God intends for us; it will be time to celebrate, and we will experience pleasure unlike any other time in our lives.  

God bless you in 2021 and keep you safe until we can at last be together again for the first time :-).
Peace,
Pr. Craig

Dear Windsor-UCC-Person-Whose-Name-I-Forgot,

You called and we talked soon after I came to the church in July.  

You are a retired teacher, a lover of books and words.  We talked about teaching and writing and you said you were keeping safe during this pandemic. We wondered when we would have the chance to meet, and agreed we just didn’t know. Meantime, you said that if there was anything you could do, any help I needed, to just let you know.  

I promised I would get back in touch with you because I would surely need your help, once I got settled into a routine and got organized a bit.  I explained that I write a lot,  often on short deadlines, and their are tines eye kneed riding help because I tend not to have time to edit out embarrassing mistakes :-).

You said you would be glad to help. When our conversation ended I was relieved to have found a person I could call on at the last minute to help with this work.

But then forgot your name. 

I know; I know:  I should have written it down!  Maybe I did write it down? 

Anyway, I am sorry to confess that though I remember you, I can’t recall your name.

If you would kindly call again, or send me an email, I promise I will remember your name this time, because I am ready for some riding help.

Yours in Christ,
Pr. Craig