Pastor B.T. Gilligan

Just like everyone else at present, we are busy being socially distant. We have postponed or canceled all of our special events and our weekly worship services are now only online, being broadcast from my dining room.

I find this time to be a strange mix of rest and anxiety.

On one hand, it means my calendar is empty. I have more free time than ever before.

On the other hand, it means that I am busier than ever before. I worry about being safe and keeping my physical distance from people, but still trying to connect with them.

It is a strange season indeed.

However, I am constantly reminding myself that this is only a season. Like winter, fall, football or hockey, this is all a temporary season. That as much as this has already gone on for weeks and still has weeks more to go, it will end.

We will get back outside. Life will return to normal. The stores will reopen. And I will again be able to shake hands or hug people without fear.

In the Bible, there is a section called Ecclesiastes. And in the third chapter, it states that there is a time for everything. For celebration and mourning, for dancing and being still, and for everything we do.

Right now, we are in a strange season of rest and anxiousness.

The one truth we can find hope in right now is that this season will change. Maybe not as soon as we would like, but it will change.

Another truth is that our world will most likely be different overall. Therefore, we can keep hope that we will find a new normal, but that some things will stay the same.

After all of this is over, I will still be going out with friends, going to church and even taking a vacation. Maybe dreaming about the possibilities is one fruitful activity we can all do to help us keep our hopes up in the midst of this.

So then, may we continue to be socially distant, wash our hands, and may we have hope that eventually this will all end and we will all get back to normal

The Rev. B.T. Gilligan is the pastor of Nixon United Methodist Church in Penn Township.