How Do You Look?

This is an open letter to the Lebanon Area Ministerial Council of Churches and some key Lebanon Leaders. Though the contents are for prayerful consideration in Lebanon, perhaps others in neighboring communities or states will resonate with some of that which we are attempting to do in meeting the needs of the present age. Please read on and, if you choose, share with others as is appropriate. God's richest blessings in this difficult and challenging time.

My sisters and brothers in Christ’s Service,

A blessed Wednesday to you all.

There are a couple of things we need to have on the collective Table of the Lebanon Community Council of Churches:

1. The United States Census forms are coming out. Your parishioners can fill them out and mail them in OR do them online. Either way, these forms are critical for the City of Lebanon in terms of funding, services and voices in legislative matters, both in our State and in our Nation.
2. Be sure to underscore the importance of accurately and completely filling out the Census for each household. I filled mine in this morning and put it in the mail. It only took about 10 minutes.
3. COVID 19 has become a significant issue in our time and requires the very best the faith community has to offer, in prayers, in servanthood and in daily example.
4. I would encourage each congregation to think carefully about how you will ‘be the Church’ in the days ahead. St. Paul UCC, upon the recommendation of our Conference, has already taken the extraordinary step of canceling corporate worship services through Monday, April 13. Yes, this includes Holy Week and Easter, but let’s be practical, the Church celebrates Easter every Sunday, no matter the time of the year. So, when we do return to corporate worship, St. Paul will certainly celebrate Easter in a new and exciting way. We will be reevaluating if that is a long enough time apart and whether or not we need to extend that time as we near the target date.
5. ‘Social-isolation’ and ‘self-quarantine’ are two new terms in the vocabulary of our global community. The Church must be about ensuring that social-isolation and self-quarantine, especially as they are practiced among the most vulnerable of our population including the immune-compromised and aging (over 60), does not become the code words for forgotten, marginalized, ignored or untouchables. Christ would never walk away from anyone and neither must we, BUT we must be prudent in how we work for and with each other bridging the schisms of isolation and loneliness.
6. Set up systems of connection in your faith community with younger, healthy folks regularly checking in on older or more vulnerable folk on a daily basis, by phone, computer and/or in person as appropriate.
7. Set up systems of shopping for food and necessities for those most impacted as is possible.
8. As you have already been made aware through earlier correspondence with Amy Suydam at Cedar Ridge, child care and child care costs may be an issue for those who are working and now have to provide a safe place for their children who would otherwise be in school. Please check in on both the members of your congregation and the surrounding neighborhoods, to see if we can be working with them to provide assistance in these trying times. Though I expect most already have plans in place, it is imperative that we remain diligent about the youngest, as well as the oldest.
9. In conversation with Superintendent Patrick Keeney of the Lebanon School District, they currently have an ample volunteer crew to assist with getting meals to the children who need them, along with homework assignments and such. BUT, as this moment in history has the potential to draw out much longer than a month, please be listening for ways the Churches of the community might be helpful in mobilizing assistance there, as well.
10. Clearly the Holy Week activities and community services will not be happening this year . . . or at least when they would traditionally happen. Please adjust your schedule accordingly. There will be NO GOOD FRIDAY STATIONS OF THE CROSS on St. Louis Street in Lebanon this year.
11. Be sure to remain generous with your support of the Lebanon Matthew 25.40 Ministries, which includes both the Lebanon Food Pantry and the Community Care Coalition (CCC). We expect there will be a substantial rise in need in the days and months ahead and our shared generosity through this important community ministry will meet those needs as they become known.
12. Please be supportive and prayerful of our Lebanon Police Department, Volunteer Fire Department and our Ambulance Crews, as well as all First Responders who are the front line of our communal well-being. They deserve our deepest respect, support and honor as they carry out their duties on our behalf.
13. Please encourage your members and friends to intentionally patronize our local restaurants and stores, either through the purchase of ‘carry outs’ (since the restaurants are temporarily order to be closed for in-house dining) or through the purchase of gift cards from those establishments in an amount which would reflect your usual daily/weekly/monthly support of their establishment. If you usually spend $20 a week at The Lantern or Ron’s or Cobblestone or any of the other many places in town, go ahead and buy gift cards from them in that amount each week, then use them at a later date. That will help them meet their ongoing floor plan of expenses and, hopefully, provide the basis for continued employment of those who depend on the hourly wages they earn there.

My sisters and brothers in Christ, the gathering of the Baptized, the Church of Jesus Christ, must be the baseline of calm, moving forward in faith, prayerfully tending to others as we pray Christ tends to us all, and offering of ourselves as Christ poured Himself out for us all. It is, certainly, no small task. People are afraid, fearful of the unknown and even more cautionary about the known. Where the days ahead lead we do not know, but I do know this: There is nowhere which we will go where God is not already there. There is no storm driven sea upon which we find ourselves that Jesus cannot walk upon or calm. There is no virus that can keep our souls from God. Hoarding toilet paper is not the same as “ . . . collect(ing) treasures for yourselves in heaven, where moth and rust don’t eat them and where thieves don’t break in and steal them. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:20-21 Common English Bible)

Lebanon is an amazing, loving, sharing and caring community of God’s people, from all walks of life, a myriad of experiences and with a wide variety of gifts. When we bring together our common faith, our gifts and our shared desire to ‘be community’, even that beloved Community of the Kingdom here on earth, there is nothing which we cannot face and overcome. Jesus teaches us that – and this is ours to model, one with the other.

I believe in God, as we are coming to know God in Jesus Christ and is made known to us in the Holy Spirit. I also believe in you, us, we together.

I am praying for you, us, we together. I am also laboring with you, us, we together.

We will not be defined by COVID 19, but we will certainly be remembered by how we chose to live, act and be together in these days through which we face the uncertainty of a virus and either cared for or ignored the one beside us. It is our choice.

I choose you, us, we together, as Lebanon, as citizens in this country and as members of the global village. We are all God’s children and now is the time to be who we are birthed to be.

Please REPLY TO ALL with any information, questions, concerns or suggestions you may have. I look forward to this walk in faith with you all.

Blessings on the journey!

Pastor Don

(c)dcw2020

Photograph (c)2018, Father Jerry Schweitzer. Used by permission.