What has helped you stay grounded in the past year? Sometimes it is the most mundane routines that connect me to the present moment. During the lockdowns of last spring, when schools and childcare centers were closed, “The Wheels on the Bus” became the anchor for my entire day. At 9 am I would play the YouTube video, and my children and I would begin marching around the room with arms whirling in circles. It was my toddler’s favorite song, and for us it signaled the start of our “school day.” Whatever else the day might bring, whatever fearful news we might hear from a world stricken by COVID and rocked by racial injustice, we knew it would start with the silly joy of a mom and two kids singing “The Wheels on the Bus.”
Our Life Together community has found those touchpoints, too. As other opportunities for worship across the cohort became limited, a group of staff and fellows began gathering weekly online for Night Prayer. The liturgy, adapted from the New Zealand Prayer Book, had been developed by a group of staff and fellows years ago but rarely used. Yet it offered the grounding needed for this season: an opportunity to come after a long day, laugh together, and pray together for the world and ourselves. We even figured out a way to chant together online, as one person sang and the rest of us followed on mute. The experience became a highlight of my week.
Earlier this month, all our fellows and staff received their second vaccinations for COVID-19. It is an exciting time for the community, as we begin transitioning back to in-person training and formation. Yet it is also a time of transition, when once again the world feels unstable. What will we make of the past year? How will we move forward? How has Life Together changed, and where does it need to continue changing? Will we do what is necessary, individually and collectively, to bring about justice in a nation where Black men are still being killed by police and Asian Americans are still targeted for hate crimes? Will we follow the movement of the Holy Spirit, wherever she leads?
Even as we go through more transitions at Life Together, we still have those grounding practices that keep us present. We pray together, chant together, reflect on our purpose and norms together. We learn, grow, and work for justice. As fellow Joyce Chae shares in her beautiful reflection this month (link to it), we crochet and create. And we gather as a community, as we will on June 5th for Fearfully and Wonderfully Made, our annual celebration and fundraiser to help Life Together support a new generation of leaders.
I hope you can be with us that evening, and that the event can ground you in your own non negotiable belovedness. Because even as seasons and circumstances change, we will always be beloved children of God.