Pastor’s Corner: You Are Loved

March 25, 2020

Welcome to this first weekly edition of The Messenger. You’ll notice that it has fewer pages. Well, there’s not quite so much going on in our world right now.

Or rather, there’s one thing that is dominating our world right now.

At Church of the Holy Cross, we decided before the governmental orders to suspend in-person worship and to discontinue on-campus meetings. We initially chose a two week period in the hope (a slight one, but a hope nevertheless) that the virus might not reach our community. As I write this, the number of people ill has been steadily growing and we have suffered our first death in the state of Hawai’i (this, it turns out, is not the case; there was a testing error). We did not act too soon. We pray that we acted in time.

Why have we expanded mailings of The Messenger? It’s very simple. As your pastor, I want to remind you that you are loved. As a congregation of Jesus, we want to remind you that you are loved. As a worldwide community of Christ, we want to remind you that you are loved.

You are loved. If you remember nothing else from this column, remember that you are loved.

It is a frightening time. Disease comes with no malice but also no mercy. It does not choose those it afflicts, but likewise it does not distinguish between those who will thrive and those who will not survive. That is a frightening thing to confront. There’s very little to grasp. “Fight or flight,” the choice our adrenalin reaction offers us, doesn’t help.

Faith and prayer are a way to still the nerves jangled by our legitimate fears. Close your eyes. Breathe deeply. Let your body grow still. Give it time to do so – bodies can’t be rushed. Fears can’t be squashed. They can settle, however, and dissipate.

Say a prayer. Use the Lord’s Prayer. Speak your own words. Or just be still.

Remember: You are loved.

With aloha,

Pastor Eric