Word for Word 4/22/20

As we all mark the first month since our schools have closed and many of our businesses have had to shut down, we have all had to adjust our daily routines. These adjustments pale in comparison to the suffering of those who have lost family members, those who wonder if they are infected, or to the anxiety experienced by those who have lost their jobs and income.

A silver lining for me during Holy Week was the opportunity to share worship with some of our area pastors.  Pastors Tim and Kate Rupert directed a Good Friday Tenebrae service at Zalmona Presbyterian Church. We were joined by Pastor Kim Gates of St. Paul Methodist and Jeremy Peake of Zion United Church of Christ, and Katie Melcher of Zalmona.  We prayed some psalms of lament, an ancient tradition on the day Jesus was crucified, but made even more poignant as so many millions of people today have been infected and isolated. It is a worthy prayer practice to lift our lament to the Lord, even if our immediate situation doesn’t get better right away.  There is value in God hearing us pray for those who are vulnerable, which includes us all.

I also was invited to join Pastor Bryan Robertson of St. John’s Lutheran for their Palm Sunday service, which aired on KNEI. The excellent men’s choir was directed by Jim Bieber, and accompanied by Lindsey Lund and Sarah Bieber. The music was beautiful and Pastor Bryan gave a fine message. I enjoyed the service so much that I invited myself back for Easter Sunday! (The Lutherans were very accommodating, smiled, and acted like it was their idea...)

I realize that I may be rubbing salt in the wound for many of you who have really been missing worshiping in person with your own church congregations. Holy Week and Easter is a time we want to pray together! I am grateful for the gracious attitude of the pastors in our area, and the realization that we are all in this together.  We will continue to pray for each other, and our health professionals serving in area hospitals, clinics, and care facilities. We also lift up people in other parts of the world where there are armed conflicts, and very little clean water. We hope for a world-wide cease fire, so that we can pull together our resources to help people in all nations against this scourge of COVID-19. We believe that Jesus has won the victory, and He wants to share that victory with us! As St. Paul writes:  “May we console one another with these words.”

Fr. Mark Osterhaus,
Catholic Parish Pastor
Waukon, Hanover, Dorchester