Distance Socializing in a Season of Social Distancing
About two weeks ago, several Bay Area counties issued an order for residents to "shelter-in-place"; last-last Thursday, Governor Newsom expanded that order to the entire state, with the goal of slowing down the spread of the coronavirus to mitigate the impact on our health care system (and, ultimately, save more lives). Part of this "shelter-in-place" order includes what's called social distancing: the practice of "deliberately increasing the physical space between you and other people to avoid spreading illness" (definition courtesy of the Johns Hopkins Medical Center website).
from https://www.berkeleyside.com/2020/03/27/after-10-days-of-lockdown-berkeley-is-a-quieter-more-cautious-city
What has that looked like for our church? HB is empty, for the most part, as is DL. People all across Berkeley church are working from home (literally, this time... like seriously – actually working from home. I swear I'm being productive.) We don't meet up physically face-to-face on Sundays (or any other day, for that matter).
On a larger scale, on those occasions you go out for essential activities, it looks like quiet roads and few cars. You look at pictures of SF or LA other cities online and it feels almost as if the bustling centers of Californian population and culture have fallen asleep, with only the slow breathing of essential activities personnel moving about (bless their hard work!) signifying that the state is only sleeping.
Normal rhythms are overturned and redone: for me, that looks like no more commutes to work (and with that, a notable down-tick in my podcast consumption), no more driving to Berkeley at the end of the work day for ministry meetings, hangouts, and Sunday afternoons at Willard.
But at the same time, this #newnormal also looks like finally spending time with the people I live with, rather than being restlessly out and about meeting everyone and seeing everyone; it means time to practice cooking and creativity instead of eating out, instead of rushing around to the next thing; and it looks like a newfound relational intentionality that goes hand in hand with efforts at distance socializing.
We've got an opportunity for regular face time with Pastor Daniel and Sarah. (As well as with Rick and Sue! And with Pastor Ed & Kelly, if you were there for last Tuesday's session of "Pastor Daniel's Neighborhood"!) And if you haven't heard, a2f has also gone live with both a slack workspace and a YouTube channel. And a bunch of the staff meet up over Zoom for DT sharing and to strengthen each other with God's word day by day. And I finally called up my peer in Irvine I've been meaning to catch up with.
One of my mentors in a2f once advised me that "every major transition is an opportunity to reaffirm the truth of the gospel through obedience." Suffice it to say, this transition to shelter-in-place is fairly major, as far as changes in circumstance go. So that makes this a season of embracing what it looks like to "consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another" and to make an effort do so especially when situations and routines are upended. Now is the season to reaffirm the importance of being the people of God together in ways big and small while at the same time making the most of what has been afforded us in 21st-century technology: instant messaging to see how people are doing, video calls to hang out and play some games, trading pictures of daily life over slack.
“we are no less His church, no less called to continue to be His people, bound up in covenantal relationship with Him and with each other”
And we've been seeing this kind of distance socializing these first two weeks of the shelter in place, and it's been, personally, an encouragement. We get behind the scenes footage of the #kiddos, scenes from Dana House, and videos of slugs invading household rugs. Through these kinds of things, as well as the deeper moments shared over Zoom(TM) calls, we are reminded that though we are geographically distant we need not be personally isolated. Just as much as it was true before shelter-in-place, so also is it true today: the Christian life is a life designed to be lived in community. And though that looks a little different today than it did just a few weeks ago, Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever; we are no less His church, no less called to continue to be His people, bound up in covenantal relationship with Him and with each other.