Social engagement with physical distancing requires new ways of gathering. But spiritual people have always known that being together through heart, and mind, and spirit, doesn’t require being together in person.

OPENING WORDS, #434, Anonymous

May we be reminded here of our highest aspirations, and inspired to bring our gifts of love and service to the altar of humanity.

May we know once again that we are not isolated beings but connected, in mystery and miracle, to the universe, to this community and to each other.

HOMILY “Gather” By Rev. Hoyt-McDaniels

1.  Difficulty of choosing opening words that don’t have the word “gather.”

“Here we are gathered.”

“Gathered here in the mystery of the hour”

“Gathered in peace, gathered in thanks”

“From the fragmented world we gather together in search of wholeness”

We gather this hour…

We gather in community…

•  Natural instinct is to gather during times of crisis.

•  This crisis requires that we care for each other by being separate.

•  Think how hard that was a hundred years ago.

“Danny Boy” is the story of a Irish family saying “good-bye” probably forever to a son leaving for the United States, but affirming that they will be together in feeling and thoughts.

But people knew that they could be separated by miles

            And still be connected in the heart

            Connected in spirit

            Gathered in love.

Every time we hold a Memorial Service we begin by affirming the presence of the deceased in the room. Not in person, but in spirit, in memory, in our thoughts, in our love.

•  Now we have new technology

We can “gather” in new ways.

            Telephone

            Facebook

            Email

            Zoom rooms and Google hangout for meetings

            (add your other suggestions in the comments)

Using these communication tools to bring people together.

            Italians singing from balconies

            In Spain applauding for hospital workers.

•  These new ways must replace gathering in person, for now.

But they won’t replace in-person gatherings for ever

For now:

I stay home to care for you

I stay home to care for my family

I stay home to care for the person who needs the hospital bed for their heart attack or surgery

I stay home so the health care worker can attend to the dialysis patient or the chemo patient.

I stay home for those who cannot stay home

I stay home for those who have no home

I stay home because this is how I care for our community

I stay home because this is how we love each through this

We are alone in our homes

But we are not alone in the world

We are not alone in this crisis

We are not alone

You are not alone.

CLOSING WORDS, #562, “698 Wayne B. Arnason

Take courage friends.  
The way is often hard, the path is never clear, 
and the stakes are very high.  
Take courage.  
For deep down, there is another truth:  
you are not alone.