I’m writing this because as Christians and citizens it is important that we recognize that the “new normal” everyone is talking about is real.  We are facing a subtle but real change in our lives as social beings.

We live in a new volatile world at this moment in time.  It reminds me of the fears that must have been experienced during WWII.  The Japanese Americans were put in camps out of fear that they were our enemy.  Men who were rejected by the Armed Services were ostracized.  People who had access to desired resources became special. Befriending the right people might get you the things you needed or wanted.

Today we are living in a different world than any of us have ever known.  For example, I am home schooling my grandchildren.  The first week was frustrating. Not enough bandwidth on the internet. The second week was better.  The third week was miserable.  The fourth week we have settled in to OUR new normal.

Many people, including myself, are making masks so that people can protect themselves from an invisible enemy that seems to be winning this war.  I am also sewing medical gowns for my daughter’s nursing home staff.  Why?  Because there is a scarcity and inadequacy of vitally necessary equipment.  Something none of us could have imagined only months ago.

A few days ago, I went to my favorite local discount fabric store to buy fabric for the medical gowns.  The owner of the store (whom I’d never met before) gave me 50 yards of nylon waterproof fabric for $2 per yard. That made 25 gowns.  Yesterday I went back to purchase the last of his supply.

But this time the owner wasn’t there.  When I placed my bolt of fabric on the counter, I asked if I could receive the discounted price.  (Full price was $2.99 per yard). The clerk looked at me suspiciously and refused to give me the discount. She told me I could wait for the owner if I wanted.  I couldn’t. Then she looked at me with a subtle kind of fear and told me to step back away from her. There was a very large counter between us at least five feet wide.  I stepped back and paid the full price for the same fabric. I left feeling sadness and frustration.

Are we afraid of one another now more than before? Have you noticed that people who are carefully “social distancing” are sometimes actually unfriendly? Are we more suspicious of one another? Is this the new social order? When we are hoarding, it means taking more than we need and the result is that others don’t have enough. Is this what we WANT?

Living as a community is more important than ever. As a parish community this pandemic makes our work critical to the health of our world.  The only way through this pandemic is to hold tight to the things that matter.  Not physical things but the things that make our lives rich with joy and peace and generosity.  Our faith in a God that loves us through the most difficult circumstances.  A God that never leaves us.  Emmanuel Church is like many Christian communities today, struggling to make our way back to normal.  But normal today is new and different.  The “different” needs to shape us into better people, the way that Jesus taught us.  The WAY that makes us children of the light, bearers of love and compassion.  The WAY of the Lord, the one who will carry us into life again and again and again.

I miss you all and pray for you.  Be well, be safe, be generous, patient and compassionate.  Our faithfulness will bring us into the “new normal” full of the glories of God.

Peace to you, my friends,

The Rev. Joyce Caggiano