It is HOT in NoHo! Or it will be this weekend according to the weather forecast. 111 degrees on Sunday. For this reason, WE WILL NOT BE WELCOMING WORSHIPPERS TO CHURCH THIS SUNDAY. It is TOO hot on the terrace. PLEASE EVERYONE: STAY HOME, STAY SAFE, STAY COOL. And watch our worship led by a very small worship team live streamed on our Facebook page: @stmatthewsnoho.
It has been nearly 6 months since the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in LA and disrupted so many patterns of our life—keeping us away from in-person worship and Breaking Bread after church, keeping us away from live Open Mic Nights or spiritually enriching face-to-face gatherings like Feminine Sacred Circle or our monthly (re)CREATION dinners.
These changes recently lead me to ask at this week’s on-line Wellness Group: how are you staying connected with God? And where are you feeling God’s presence in your life?
Absent the various small groups and live worship support and presence of God in communion, the pandemic is forcing us into a space of greater independent spiritual reckoning and growth. We are prodded to open ourselves up more to perceiving God’s presence in our lives in ways that are perhaps less familiar to us. Maybe, just maybe that is a good thing.
Maybe, just maybe we will come out of this pandemic with a deeper personal capacity to feel God’s presence in our everyday lives, and a spiritual resilience that will lead us to greater spiritual maturity and understanding of God’s grace, love and justice offered in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
That is my prayer this week for you: that your awareness of God’s presence in your life is heightened, and that you feel grace and restoration even amidst the heat!
Be safe, be well, be blessed.
