In many ways 2021 was the year of unmet expectations. That great hope of a post-Covid “opening up” and return to normalcy, never fully materialized and as we stand on the threshold of 2022 many of us are not expectant so much as we are just tired.
Nevertheless, 2021 was a year where we soldiered on and, in spite of those unmet expectations made some pretty radical changes and tackled some major projects. Never in my pre-pandemic, wildest imagination could I have predicted that Emmanuel would be a place where people had the option of worshipping either in-person in our sanctuary or on-line via Zoom. Apart from the necessity thrust upon us by the pandemic we never would have spent close to $25,000 to create our own little TV station. We landscaped and lighted our parking lot median in 2021. We also significantly reduced the balance on our mortgage which now stands at about $116,000. In a year when we haven’t spent much time in our building we have done a great deal to secure and upgrade these capital assets.
The lesson I keep learning during the pandemic is that flexibility and attentiveness are important resources. As many of the familiar grooves of our religious practice get erased, we need to keep asking why those grooves were in place and how we will carve out new ones that will accomplish the same ends. If we cannot meet together in person to “encourage one another and stir up one another to love and good works” (ala Hebrews 10), what new tools can we develop to avail ourselves of this essential resource? We have addressed this question with respect to providing for Sunday worship but many other aspects of our life together have atrophied in this time. And like parents worry about the effect of the pandemic on their children’s social development, as pastor I worry about how our isolation from each other is breaking down the relational cohesion that sustains us as a congregation.
So as we look ahead to this coming year, I ask you to join me in prayer about paving some new pathways that will enable our mission to the community and our fellowship with one another. Curiosity and creativity will be our friends in this endeavor. Jesus does not intend for any of us to walk the way of faith alone. Whereas the pandemic keeps calling us to keep our distance from each other, the way of faith invites us to seek out one another and encourage each other. I do not have a lot of ideas about how to address this dilemma, but I know we need to at least be acknowledging it and seeking to remedy it. I look forward to what we will discover and how we will adapt to develop some new ways of coming together for mission and fellowship in the coming year.
Dave Rohrer—January 30, 2022
(Note: this piece was initially published in Emmanuel’s Annual Report for 2021)