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How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I bear pain in my soul,
and have sorrow in my heart all day long?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
Consider and answer me, O Lord my God!
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,
and my enemy will say, “I have prevailed”;
my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.
But I trusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.
Psalm 13
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To Our Beloved Residents and Staff
As the pandemic continues to go on and we continue to need to shelter in place, we hear you and we see you. Our hearts and prayers are with you. We are calling out these days with the Psalmist,
“How long, O Lord, how long?”
The Psalms are known as an expression of our universal human condition-these ancient Biblical words run the gamut of every emotion we can experience. The fact that they are recorded this way in Scripture tells us that God loves and understands us in all of our needs and reaches out to us. It tells us that it is okay for us to have doubts and even to ask God, in modern vernacular, “What in the world is up with this pandemic?!”
It is as though the Psalms exist for us as an outlet for us- as a healing outlet, so that we may lament, and so that we may hope, and everything else in between, and all the while, God is listening.
Like the Psalmist, when we are having hard times, we cry out for help, we even rage and moan,we weep and sorrow, we harbor anger and revenge in our hearts ,we despair, we fall silent, and eventually, we find ourselves turning, reaching back to God-we release back into God's love and find that this love is so limitless that it has been with us all along. The moment you wonder, where is “God” in all of this, you have turned to God. God's love is holding you. God’s love is steadfast. It cannot fail us.
This love is with us and is carrying us even now as we are going through these unprecedented hard times. Even now, as we are getting so tired of the situation and all of the limitations it presents.
How long, O Lord, will this go on?
How long, O Lord, will we worry about not having enough toilet paper?
How long, O Lord, will we not be able to be with our families and friends again in peace and safety?
How long, O Lord, will we mourn our loved ones without being able to be together?
How long, O Lord, will we have to wear these stifling masks and wipe off our groceries?
How long, O Lord... insert the thing that is most bothering you during this time...
How long, O Lord, will it ever end?
How ever you are feeling right now and whatever you are missing, it is okay to mourn and wail. It is okay to get it out- to find an outlet to release it. It may seem like this time will go on forever, like we cannot see an end in sight. We are feeling sad and discouraged. We may even think that none of our prayers are being answered- that the God of our understanding has turned God’s back on us.
May we know that it's all going to be all right in time. May we know that we are always going to be okay no matter what it looks like now.
No matter how dark and hopeless it seems, God has not left us. God is with us. God sees and hears us. God is answering our calls for help- every time we eat, every time we talk on the phone with a loved one, every time we are able to lie down at night in our bed and wake up in the morning, God is with us.
Every time you force yourself to go on a walk, out in the hallways, or outside, God is with you. When you cannot stir yourself out of your house or chair for the day, God is with you.
When we feel sad and hopeless, God is with us, hoping for us. God is with us in that phone call, email, or card that reminded us that someone cares and is thinking of us.
God is with you when you video conference with your family and God is with you when you cannot video conference with your family.
God is with you when you are disappointed that we cannot have activities like we used to. God is with us in the hands of our social workers and our Wellness team members who strive to meet the social, emotional, physical, and spiritual needs of our community every day.
God is with you when you cannot go to the death bed of a dying family member or friend. God is with your dying loved one, holding them close.
God is with us all, in the hands of the nurses and doctors who care for us, in the hands of the Culinary and Dining services members who prepare our food.
God is with us in the hands of our Facilities and Information Technology folks who make sure our buildings and technology can keep running, keeping us all safe and connected during these hard times.
God is with us in the hands and feet of our Grounds-keeping team, keeping our campus so beautiful and green, a refuge for us to look at and wander through during these hard times.
God is with us in the hands of our Housekeeping team who scrub all day long, working their fingers to the bone, to keep our buildings clean and safe.
God is with us in the hands of our leaders who are trying their very best every day to make the best decisions they can with the information they have to keep us safe.
God is with us, beloved residents, in you.
God is with us in your hands, in your minds and hearts, as you do your best every day to take care of yourself, your families, your neighbors, and to reach out to staff.
God is with us in your stories shared and in your remarkable lives and legacies lived and given- as lessons by which we are made so much better and wiser for knowing.
God is with us in your gracious and loving gift to us of the Covid Kindness Fund.
God is with us because God is Love; God reaches us through God's Loving-kindness acted out through our hands and hearts.
Love and Kindness are working through our hands and hearts every day, here at Williamsburg Landing.
May we know how deeply and wildly and even recklessly God loves us.
The ocean itself could not contain this love.
This love surges and flows beyond and away all of the hurt and brokenness and travesty - it rescues us.
You are already rescued even when it seems like you are "in the middle of the hardest fight" and you think you are losing everything and even your self- at that very moment, God is holding you-you can never be lost to God,
God hears you;
God sees you;
God loves you;
God is with you;
Even in the middle of the hardest fight we may have ever had to fight, the pandemic, know that you are already RESCUED.
I am sharing with you today a song called, “Rescue.” It was written by Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Lauren Daigle. (Click on Daigle’s name to see her biography.)
Daigle is known as a "cross over artist" because her music , while originating in the genre of Contemporary Christian music, has "crossed over" to being received and heard by followers of many other music genres as well.
Daigle's hit, "Rescue" was released in July 2019 and reached No. 2 on the Christian Songs chart and No. 12 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100, spending a total of eleven weeks on the latter chart. It also peaked at No. 1 on UK Cross Rhythms on June 9, 2019. The song was certified Gold by the Recording Industry of America on December 12, 2019 (Wikipedia).
Daigle always had a natural talent for singing, ever since she was a child, and was known in the family as their “music box.” Daigle experienced a serious illness as a child, and during this time she turned to her love of music even more.
Daigle has always approached music,than, as a healing outlet.
As an adult, Daigle shared that she was inspired to write, “Rescue” to help a loved one through a difficult time. Her loved one was feeling desperate, afraid, and hopeless. The song was Daigle’s vision of what God was telling her loved one, but over time the song developed a much wider impact as Daigle saw how it reached and connected with people around the world. In an interview on Genuis.com, Daigle stated,
"Rescue is probably one of the most personal songs on the record. It was written for someone close to me who was going through a difficult time. I want people to listen to this song and leave feeling that while they may be struggling, there are better times ahead. I've had some time to sing this song around the world and the way that it has connected with people is something that is so surreal…That's the beauty of this song, that's why it's so personal, that's why it means so much."
These words from Daigle can bring us all hope during this difficult time. They can be an outlet for us, to lament, and to hope. This song is one of the many avenues by which we are reminded that God is with us, in the hands and hearts of the people God put on earth, to help us.
You are not hidden
There's never been a moment
You were forgotten
You are not hopeless
Though you have been broken
Your innocence stolen
I hear you whisper underneath your breath
I hear your SOS, your SOS
I will send out an army to find you
In the middle of the darkest night
It's true, I will rescue you
There is no distance
That cannot be covered
Over and over
You're not defenseless
I'll be your shelter
I'll be your armor
I hear you whisper underneath your breath
I hear your SOS, your SOS
I will send out an army to find you
In the middle of the darkest night
It's true, I will rescue you
I will never stop marching to reach you
In the middle of the hardest fight
It's true, I will rescue you
~
May your hearts be anchored in all that gives you strength and hope; may they be eased in gentle healing peace, and filled to overflowing with love, light, and laughter.
With love and prayers,
Chaplain Caitilin Hoy
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Lauren Daigle - Rescue (Official Music Video)The video was filmed over two days on the Knik Glacier in Alaska.
It has over 20,000,000 hits on YouTube.
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We also need to have opportunities to smile and laugh during this time :) Watch this video of these best friends in this hilarious united effort to win back the affection of the mysterious "Samantha."
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Welcome to Our Own Williamsburg Landing:
"It's A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" Column!
We are honored and delighted to share your words and pictures of encouragement and inspiration. All submissions are welcome and will be reviewed by the Editing Team before posting. If you would like your name to be included, please note this in your submissions, otherwise it will be listed anonymously. Thank you all so very much for your interest and participation. Together, we are making each day here at Williamsburg Landing a truly beautiful day in our neighborhood.
Encouragement From Around the Neighborhood: More musical healing as an outlet
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Watch and hear, "The Bells of Banff"
In these difficult times, small acts can make a big difference. Everyday at 1:00 pm Heather Jean Jordan, the music director St. George In The Pines Church, rings the bells as a symbol of hope and community for the town of Banff, Canada.
~Submitted by Clayton Westland
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Let us look with wonder to see that it really is a beautiful day in the neighborhood! May we be open to the beauty all around and within us.
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Missing attending your place of worship on Sundays? We understand and for this very reason have assembled several online resources, such as worship and devotional services, and other tools to help you nurture your spiritual and emotional health during this time. To access please click on the button below:
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The Chaplain Team's Contact Information
Please don't hesitate to contact us. We are here for you always and especially during this challenging time.
Contacts
Lead Chaplain | Reverend Caitilin Hoy
email:choy@williamsburglanding.org
phone: 253-9679
Chaplain | Reverend Hannah Creager
email: hcreager@williamsburglanding.org
phone: 253-9685
~ Peace Be With You All ~
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