By Rev. Catherine Stark-Corn, Minister to Children & Families/Outreach & Mission
I continue to be in a time of recreating – imagining – wondering. In these recent months with the pandemic not front and center in headlines, I am still grasping at a rhythm. I find I like predictability – to know what is coming, how to approach what’s next. I have released the idea of going back to what was before spring of 2020 – those patterns are gone as is to a large degree who we were at that time. This is not just a personal wrestling but very much a professional one.
I have been using some Krista Tippet thoughts as a guide to create a framework. She reminds us, “Questions are powerful things. Questions elicit answers in their likeness.” So, to stay open to the spirit – to the creative angst – to imaginative wisdom, I am using the question – who can the church be for our members that no other space can be in their lives today? It’s a tough one, but it has given me a lens to use to avoid just looking busy with activities.
This question was answered in one form recently at our bingo in the park. A preschooler I was greeting sped past me saying, “I am going to say hi to Ms. Kitty!” Ms. Kitty leads Worship & Wonder Sunday School for our youngest learners. She gathers them in Sunday mornings, with song and story and smiles, showing God’s love in living form to these growing ones.
At that same bingo night, fun was had between a youth bingo caller and an adult participant. They exchanged teasing jabs about calling too fast and not keeping up – all in fun and only possible because of the relationship that had grown because the adult (herself with grown children) has taken time to meet with elementary kids to support them on Sunday mornings – connecting, building relationships and modeling care and nurture.
Who can the church be? It can be a slice of God’s family connecting 3-year-olds with 63 year olds – mingling all ages and stages of people seeking to be faithful, to practice love, to live God’s call to make the world a more just place for all. The church can be a mix of generations, and life circumstances, it can be a wealth of experience from lives that had smooth roads and deep potholes – to be shared amongst growing relationships of mutual care.
In these moments where we can find ourselves siloed and leaning into too many situations where all are the same, let us find the joy of intergenerational connections where people of certain ages can offer encouragement and enlighten us; and those new to life can beckon us all forward into wonder and delight.
