Put your own mask on first
“Pray to God, but row towards shore!”
This was the saying beneath the drawing of a row boat out in the middle of a large body of water on a wall at Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlor. I have often thought about this little bit of advice. Am I just sitting waiting for God to rescue me or am I rowing in the right direction?
Of course it is always good spiritual practice to pray to God. But do we know when God answers? I seldom get the “Wow! That was an answer to my prayer!” type of moment.
It usually is more of coming to see what has been in front of me all along. Maybe something I’ve overlooked or ignored until “there it is”
Jesus said to love your neighbor as yourself. But first we need to love our self. Do we? COVID-19 is sneaky. Traits that are part of who we are as human beings -- being social, congregating, hugging, sharing food -- all have become things to avoid.
Do we love ourselves enough to stay home, wear a mask and social distance? Oddly enough, in times of COVID-19, these are the exact same things we need to do to love our neighbor.
Just a few facts
November 1st there were 300+ novel coronavirus cases a day in San Diego.
November 12th there were 600+ and if projections hold by November 23 there will be 1200 per day. Every 11 days the number of cases per day doubles.
By New Year’s Day, if nothing changes, there will be 10,000 cases a day in San Diego and our health care system will be struggling under the strain. I am not telling you anything that is not public knowledge.
Like each of you, I long to be with you. To me it feels like I just came home after being away for several years. I want to catch up, hear your stories, pray with you, embrace you, break bread with you.
And I want you and me to be here next year. The last thing I want is for this community to become a hot spot because we have a lot of members who are over 65 years old and are in high risk categories. We need to take care of ourselves and each other.
When we pray for this community, Clairemont Lutheran Church / Iglesia Luterana Clairemont, to be protected from this pandemic, I believe God hears our prayers. Did you hear God’s response?
Stay home when possible.
Keep our distance from one another.
Wear your mask.
Stay in your bubble.
Take care of each other.
God knows that we long to be together, to break bread together and to help others in need. We can help each other through this
time of isolation. And come Pentecost, we
will celebrate that Clairemont Lutheran
Church /Igelsia Luterana Clairemont
survived COVID-19.