​I miss church. I miss seeing you at to worship. I miss the gathering of the church school children. I miss hearing the choirs sing and the congregation blend their voices in song as we belt out some of those favorites. I miss the Lord's Supper and sharing the meal with you as we are assured that the Lord is with us. I miss baptizing babies and sharing the joy of this special moment of God proclamation of love. I miss shaking your hand after worship. I miss the rhythm of worship, that predictable flow of the Lutheran liturgy that has cradled me through the good times and the hard times in my life. It is not the building that I crave. It is the experience of the Divine. So where is God, the Divine One, when we can't gather for worship?

The earth is the LORD’s and all that is in it,
the world, and those who live in it… Psalms 24:1
I had originally thought that writing about Earth Day on Earth Day would be an opportunity to NOT talk about public health emergencies and pandemic. Then I discovered that, from the Earth’s perspective, this virus has not been all bad news. ​

U.S. Surgeon General warns that the coming week “…is going to be the hardest and the saddest week of most Americans’ lives.”
This grim headline greeted me as I logged into Facebook on Palm Sunday in order to join the HTLC “Watch Party” for virtual worship. How strange, I thought, that the terror, which has been building in our nation for weeks, would reach its supposed pinnacle during the holiest week of the church year.

Today, I want you to know that I give thanks for you.  I find myself thinking about you during the day, wondering what you are doing, and how you are managing during this time of adjustments to a new style of living that includes an unsettling outlook about the foreseeable future. ​