Over on the Carver Project blog (Carver Connections), they’ve published a short essay of mine in their current series of daily reflections during the COVID-19 crisis. Check out my essay and the others, and learn about the Carver Project as well, a worthy ministry on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis.
Here’s the opening of the essay.
This is a nerve-racking time. As a pastor I spent hours and hours the week of March 8 making plans for a safe worship service. But by the end of the day that Sunday, March 15, all that labor was obsolete. I spent the following week getting up to speed on live streaming and pulling off our first ever digital worship service for our folks at home. Throughout this time, I had to make countless decisions, big and small. It left me exhausted.
I now find myself constantly checking my New York Times app for the latest numbers, declarations, and congressional activity. Then I switch to a local news website to find the latest local information. Then I check my email and Facebook. Then I’m compelled to do it over again. It’s the digital loop of the anxious person.
Maybe you’ve felt something similar over the past four weeks.
There’s a lot to be anxious about: infection rates spreading, people dying, and major institutions shutting down. How will we keep our work going or meet our responsibilities? How will we continue to care for, serve, and educate those under our charge? Will there be a disruption in the financial provision of my family? What if someone I love gets sick? What if I get sick?
Nerve-racking indeed.
Vita pastoralis 