Skip to main content
  • chairs

Dear Beloveds of God at St. Peters,

Last month I wrote about shifting gears and this month I want to write about rhythm. How rhythm provides structure, a beat; how rhythms hold us and provide an inherent grace that we can lean into. 

I’m one month in and I am beginning to discern the rhythms of this place, even as they shift between time signatures.  One week I have to have a sermon ready by Thursday, the next it’s by Sunday, and Holy Week was its own strange song and dance.  Some weeks are busy with evening commitments while others are light.  The mornings at church are noisy with the sounds of preschoolers playing, while the afternoons are quiet as they nap.  It’s been delightful to uncover these patterns. 

The world beyond my desk also seems to change time signatures, quite often these days! One week we’re in the red tier, the next we’re in the orange tier, and by June 15th, Governor Newsom says the tier system will be no more, barring any catastrophic surge of the virus.  One minute we’re vaccinating with gusto and the next minute a vaccine has been paused. 

For months on end we’ve had kids doing distance learning and teachers teaching through computer screens.  Now everything has picked up tempo as many children returned to in-person learning.

Life has had so much disruption to the rhythms that hold us. It can be hard to discern the beat these days.

One of the things I cherish most about being a Lutheran, is that even when I can hardly find a rhythm to my own life, our worship has a solid beat.  Some people might find it cold or impersonal in its repetition and unchangingness.  But for me, it’s like a heartbeat to which I can press my ear; a structure that can hold us through very unstable times.  Every Sunday we follow this age old rhythm of gathering, receiving the Word, sharing the meal, and being sent into the world.  Gather, Word, Meal, Send.  Gather, Word, Meal, Send.  Rinse and repeat. 

I want to thank you all for the ways you have continued this ancient rhythm throughout the pandemic. Taking it online, video-recording, garage band choir arrangements! What a labor of love!

It is my pleasure to share with you that this month the council decided, at the recommendation of the Re-Opening Taskforce, that in May we will begin to fade out the pre-recorded worship and slowly bring back our in-person option.  In May, we will gather in-person for worship in the parking lot on the 2nd and 4th Sundays with the hope to increase our in-person worship more and more! We will continue to have a live-streaming option for those who are not yet ready to return in person.  Be on the lookout for ways that you can assist and serve - this is going to take a team effort but it is effort worth taking!

Join me in listening for the rhythms that hold you and sustain you; as you find them - lean in, rest, or dance, as the beat calls for!

Peace,

Pastor Bekki