This Sunday we will resume in-person Sunday worship at Holy Apostles, a sign of what so many of us have been starting to experience in our lives as we slowly emerge from the pandemic: new beginnings. With many new beginnings there is great excitement and hopefulness — and our current beginning is no different. We are excited to be physically with folks we’ve only communicated with virtually for so long. We anticipate a return to some kind of normalcy. We hope that everything will suddenly be better, whatever “better” means to each of us.
But this new beginning in particular also reminds us that with every beginning there is also loss. Even the most wonderful transitional events such as graduations, weddings, births, and new jobs come with loss and grief. We lose what our life was before the event – and even if that life wasn’t always so great, the change may be disorienting. In this transition especially, we are grieving actual deaths of loved ones. But this time also has the potential to bring losses of other kinds, such as improved working patterns, schedule flexibility, quality family time for some and quality alone time for others.
And there is always risk involved in any new beginning. There is so much that is unknown about the road ahead! Even if we think we know what lies before us, the pandemic itself reminded us that we can never really be certain. Perhaps a major lesson of our time is that in a time of great unexpected change, we are well served by a spirit of openness and adaptability.
Thank God, literally, that we are walking into the unknown with our friends, our family, and our beloved Holy Apostles, and that we are also accompanied by the guiding Divine Presence. As we all travel into the future together, may all our new beginnings be truly blessed!
