A Year of Church in a Pandemic
On March 11, 2020 the WHO declared COVID-19 to be a global pandemic and on March 15, 2020 our church held its last regular in person worship services. This decision was made not in fear, but in love for the front-line healthcare workers who needed hospital capacity to not be overwhelmed, and for our neighbours who would require each of us to be their support network as they found themselves more and more isolated. In short, we made the decision which our church should always make: to follow Jesus with our lives, to love our city and to serve the world.
It has been a difficult year of loss for many of us. Some have lost loved ones and friends, many have experienced physical or mental illness and not been able to access the kind of care they are accustomed to, that they in fact deserve. We have all felt isolated and alone at times, overwhelmed and at the brink of hopelessness. Within our church, seasons of change have not only been due to the pandemic, but also as God has called pastors and staff to new places and as people who we dearly love have made difficult decisions to move, or to follow God’s leading to a new community as well. We have not always been able to even say goodbye well, and this has been a challenge for us all.
As we process the year that has been, and the still uncertain days ahead, it is also important that we notice and tell the stories where goodness has broken into our sorrow, where community and hope has loosed us from isolation or despair. We have seen the gospel come to life in brilliant ways over this year, tangible reminders of God’s continued love and faithfulness to us and to our church, and these are stories worth remembering, as well—for the grace that was only possible because of the hardships we have also known in this time.
The stories are, in fact, too numerable to contain here. In the last year we have had the marvellous stories of baptisms, even baptisms which required secrecy for the safety of our new brother and sisters in Jesus. We have seen ESL ministries grow to 60 or more people each week, and pre-service prayer ministry become a bedrock of prayer for each Sunday’s livestream in a way that it struggled to do before the pandemic. We have had new faces and voices come into our community, deeply appreciative for a church which they now consider home and a community which they long to know in deeper ways. We have celebrated so many new babies who we are eager to meet and welcome to their church home, and also celebrated that some members of our community can now fully call Canada home. We have experimented with Knox Villages, offering the opportunity of ongoing social connection within the broader church and the potential for local clusters of our church family to better love and serve their neighbours. In Advent we shared family recipe cards with each other and reminded ourselves that we are a people who wait—and in all of our waiting, we have been slowly reminded of the still present and still abundant graciousness of our God.
I hope that these stories spark joy in you, and that you take the opportunity to reflect with gratitude for the many ways God has provided for you, your family, and our church even in a time of pandemic and loneliness until that time when we will be joined together with great joy again.
Your pastor + friend,
Nick
