Fr Robert Hendrickson

Dear Friends in Christ,

This past week was a joy and a challenge. The joy came with my father coming to visit. It is the first time he’s seen the boys in almost three years. The pandemic short-circuited the normal get together opportunities. So he got to play with them and talk with them in ways that were a surprise to him, we got to catch up about what is happening and reconnect in a way that is so much harder at a distance.

The challenge comes from family stress in other parts of our family. The pandemic created stresses and strains that will have ripple effects for the rest of their lives. The sense of normalcy and connection was pulled apart under the strain of pandemic life and work.

Tending to the critical connections of family and friendships is so crucial now. We may not even realize just how much strain the steady press of the last 20 months. Many of us have adapted in different ways but, as with many stressful times, our adaptations make us ill-prepared for a return to normalcy.

It feels like there’s a collective, communal, shared kind if PTSD that we are all dealing with in different ways. When soldiers come home, the stress of a constant threat to life makes it a struggle to return to normal. The loss of friends, the strain on relationships, and the sense that people have forgotten them all create a pressure on the heart and soul.

While we may not have been struggling with the same strains as someone on deployment, I would argue that we’ve all experienced some version of it. Re-connection is going to be key. Rediscovering how to live in normal times, when our emotions have been pulled back and forth for almost two years, is going to be crucial.

That reconnection and rediscovery can begin here, in our faith home. Here we can find again the firm foundation that holds through the changes and chances of life. Here we can rediscover a sense of peace and purpose. Here we can go deeper with Christ and hear again the still small voice that speaks through the whirlwind. We can sing through tears, laugh despite our sorrows, and see new life amidst the seemingly constant talk of death.

Nothing can separate us from the love of God — let us ensure that his love stirs in us the desire to let nothing separate us from one another either. This pandemic has reminded us that we desperately need one another and in that longing we may yet find our way toward something even holier than “normal.”

Yours in Christ,

Fr Robert