What do you do? That is really the question. What do you do in this time of crisis? First, I would say to turn off the news. I know that we want to know what is going on in the world today. This morning, as I had my morning tea, I had the news on. In the hour that I had it on, there was only one segment, short, that did not talk about the coronavirus. That was when they did the weather segment. Otherwise, it was a full hour of talk about the virus. I understand that we need to know what is going on. But it gets to be too much. I remember that following 9/11, I finally had to turn he news off because the discussion of and the images of the disaster was getting overwhelming. It was depressing. It caused nothing but despair and helplessness. I was becoming depressed. I needed to distance myself from it.

So when they are telling us to socially distance ourselves, I think we need to socially distance from the news media. If we don't, we are going to become more and more depressed. We will be dealing with more issues.

I am really asking myself about what to do. Worship. The importance of worship. Yes, it can be done virtually. For many, that has been the way they have done worship, letting the tele-evangelist minister to them instead of attending worship at their church. It has been enough. I hear, "Pastor, I may not make it to worship, but I watch TV. I watch Rev. Whatshisname and I watch Madame Pastor Goodname. I get so much from them. I don't feel like I need to get out on Sunday." Well, welcome to the new reality. That is going to happen even more now. Churches will live stream their services and after this crisis is past, they will continue to offer that. I fear that more people will continue to stay home and say, "I worship at home. That is good enough."

And I know, it is, for those who are not able to get out to worship. But as a pastor, I fear that this will become the new normal. People who could get out, will use that as their reason for not attending worship. Then, as the crisis passes, they will return to their former way of life, where even watching worship at home will become an option.

I wonder. I struggle. I think. I pray. I ask the Lord, "What is the right thing to do right now?" And we are moving forward with the way that we, at St. John, think will be best. Pray for me. Pray for us. Pray for our nation. Pray for the sick. Pray for the well.

Lord, be with us.