Dear <<First Name>>,

Suffering. It is a word we don’t often use, and rarely about ourselves. We use the word when describing the effects of something that happens to other people, and often to describe deep pain. As we live into the reality of daily life in the midst of COVID-19, we are each learning about suffering in different ways.
 
Some of you live alone, and you have told me exactly how many days it has now been since you received any form of human touch. Others of you live in full households, bursting with people and animals and activity, with not a spare moment of privacy. Some of you have had to become teachers overnight, while also working full-time jobs and feeding those in your household.
 
Some of you have barely left your home since the stay-at-home orders went into effect. Others have had to continue working because you are considered essential workers. Some of you have enough food and the ability to prepare it, while others of you are struggling to get the food you need. Some of you have access to internet data, and others of you have limited or no ability to stream anything online.
 
And all of this has nothing to do with actually getting COVID-19, or knowing someone who gets sick. Those of you on the frontline in whatever form are facing even greater risk and seeing whole other levels of suffering and pain.
 
We might look at any of these situations and say that they are merely inconveniences. In total, however, I say that they are forms of suffering. We are experiencing grief and loss and loneliness and fear and uncertainty. This is hard. We don’t know what “normal” will look like, or when anything will return to what we used to think of as “normal.” Whatever you are feeling right now is OK. It is normal. Each of us are experiencing things in different ways at different times. That is OK. This is a hard time, a very strange time.
 
In a recent email reflection, the great Franciscan teacher and writer Richard Rohr wrote:
 
"In this time of suffering we have to ask ourselves, what are we going to do with our pain? Are we going to blame others for it? Are we going to try to fix it? No one lives on this earth without it. It is the great teacher, although none of us want to admit it. If we do not transform our pain, we will transmit it in some form. How can we be sure not to transmit our pain onto others?"
 
I’ve spent a good deal of time thinking about these questions from Richard Rohr since I read them at the end of March. And I have been wondering what you are doing with your pain. What do you need right now? How are you doing? How can we support you during this time? How can we help each other transform our pain and difficulties and suffering in the days and weeks ahead?
 
I do want you to know that the Board of Directors voted to allocate some funds from our budget to help those of you affected financially by the effects of COVID-19. We will help as many people as we can with the funds we have, until they run out. So please contact me (pastor@ppmcc.org or 512-762-4419) if you have financial issues and could use some extra help right now.
 
You are not alone. We will get through this. Together.

Sunday Worship Online: 10 a.m.

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