Getting Soaked in God's Love
I am thrilled for the coming week. Virtual VBS is going to be amazing! Each day, we’ll provide fresh video content with the theme, music, and biblical story. We’ll also include a special activity. Go to the VBS page on our website for all the info and supply lists. We have just a few days left to invite someone to share VBS with us. Who do you know that would enjoy getting splashed in God’s love? Let’s share these three days together, virtually and safely, and next Friday, we’ll celebrate! We’ve already raised $480 toward our $1,500 goal — all donations will support Restore Hope Ministries. At each step toward the goal, one more VBS leader gets “soaked.” I hope you’ll join me in a special gift to support both VBS and Restore Hope.
As thrilled as I am to celebrate VBS with you, Faith, I’m also deeply concerned about the rising numbers of infection in our community. I recognize that statistics can be used to support many different decisions in terms of public health policies and community safety protocols. I also recognize none of us have ever lived through a pandemic and so we are building this plane as we fly it. I am in close touch with several leaders in our congregation as well as our staff. Every single conversation has included our sadness and loss over the need for physical distancing right now. Friends, we do not want to keep our building closed or turn people away from our sanctuary on Sunday mornings. We all understand there is a cost to keeping our connections virtual. This cost can be measured by the emotional pain it imposes, the lethargic response it creates, or the spiritual malaise it inflicts. Since I’ve encouraged us to keep our distance, I thought it might help you to hear a few parts of my story that I’ve not shared with you. For better or worse, my story informs my cautious leanings.
I fell ill on Feb. 21 this year. Friday afternoon, I noticed an irritating dry cough that just wouldn’t go away. Saturday morning, I woke with a raging headache and wondered if I would make it out of bed. I had been in OKC that week for meetings and considered whether I should try to make it to an urgent care facility in OKC or get back to Tulsa. It had been a very long time since I’d been so sick I didn’t know if I could safely drive. Not wanting to be sick alone, I loaded up my things. Kurt and Elizabeth met me at the midway to drive me the rest of the way home. A trip to urgent care in Tulsa yielded negative results for flu and strep. Diagnosis: virus. Treatment: rest and fluids. I missed church the next day, still struggling with a cough, severe exhaustion and headache.
By Wednesday, the cough felt much more like bronchitis and there was no more sleep. It was so deep and painful. By Friday, a week into the illness, the cough turned dry again and the pain in my back set in. I hadn’t had fever to this point, but my temperature began to rise, reaching 100 degrees. Back to urgent care. Diagnosis: pneumonia. Treatment: antibiotics and steroids, powerful cough medicine. It had been three days since I’d slept and finally, I was able to sleep again. Missed another Sunday at church and the cough just wouldn’t quit. By the next Wednesday, I couldn’t breathe. I’ve never been short of breath, but I know now how scary that is. Kurt took me to the emergency room. They were full with flu patients and couldn’t see me. We went back to urgent care, but they wouldn’t see me either. Told me to go back to ER. I begged Kurt to take me home. I crawled in bed and struggled for breath until evening when it eased.
Fortunately, Kurt was able to get a hold of our primary care physician and she ordered a lung CT scan the next day. By Friday of that week, the results were back. The pneumonia was gone. The cough was improving, slowly. It took another week before I could make a full day without having to nap. It would be another three weeks before I could say that I really felt like myself again. This memory is never far away when I consider safety protocols, re-entry timelines, and risk management. If I had known how sick I would be before I came in contact with the virus that made me ill back in February, I would’ve avoided it at any cost. The difficulty is that we never know until AFTER we’ve been exposed that we should’ve avoided a gathering, an activity, or washed our hands one more time.
We are facing a virus we’ve never seen before. We don’t know, really, how it is transmitted. We don’t know what the long-term effects of this virus are on the human body. There is room for us to question each other’s assumptions about how the data should inform our response. As we question each other, let’s also be honest and say that we don’t know what the right decisions are.
The memory of being so very ill, of struggling for breath, of feeling like I just couldn’t lift my head off the pillow, is extremely real for me. Friends, I don’t want to be that sick again. I don’t want anyone on our staff or in our congregation to be that sick. And, I can’t imagine how hard it would be to do a funeral for one of our own who was infected while in our building. I know worshipping online isn’t the same thing as worshipping surrounded by our church friends and family. Believe me, preaching to the camera isn’t the same as seeing your faces and expressions. I get it. But, worshipping online is real worship. God still works as we gather together for prayer, praise, and proclamation. And, in this reality, it is a gift we give to each other. We can safely gather and know that no one will end up sick as a result.
During the past two weeks, I’ve started making a few phone calls every day, just so I can talk to you. I miss you, Faith — and I know you miss each other. Those phone calls have been a source of joy to me. I’m going to keep reaching out and I hope you’ll do the same. Who did you sit next to in the sanctuary? Who used to greet you at the door when you arrived? Who taught your kids in Sunday School? Pull out the Instant Church Directory on your phone and call a few people. They might not pick up. That’s ok. You can leave the message I’m leaving. “I thought of you. I’m praying for you. No need to call back unless you want to visit, but know you are close to my thoughts.”
May God keep us close, Faith. May God deepen us spiritually. May God offer us grace upon grace so we have some in reserve to offer each other.
Peace,
Pastor Charla
