Friends,
I am using this installment of “The Pastor’s Pen” to thank you for all the ways you continue to keep COVID safe.
In general, thing have gotten more relaxed COVID-wise. The State of California has eased off on many masking requirements, folks are getting out more and traveling, and sometimes I have felt as if things are almost back to normal.
But I have gotten a cold dose of reality over the last couple of weeks as I’ve tried to count up how many people in the Montclair Presbyterian Church community are currently sick with COVID. I don’t have a firm count, but I suspect that there are more people with COVID in our congregation now than there has been at any time since the pandemic began.
Now, thankfully, to my knowledge no one has gotten seriously ill. I don’t know of any hospitalizations, and we have yet to have a church member die of COVID; I think we can credit a high rate of immunization for this good fortune, but certainly we also have been lucky.
So, if you are not yet vaccinated, please consider getting vaccinated. If you are not boosted, please get boosted and re-boosted if you are over the age of 50. I got my second booster about ten days ago, and I’m glad I did. It feels good to know that I am less likely to spread COVID, and less likely to get seriously ill if I become infected.
Also: please consider wearing your mask when you are visiting indoor public spaces. Personally, I hate wearing a mask, but I continue to wear a mask because I really want to keep folks in the church safe. I also really want to attend my daughter, Nellie’s high school graduation (and, more than that, I want her to attend her graduation). Let’s keep each other safe and healthy.
God’s peace,
Ben
P.S. This has nothing to do with my COVID admonitions above, but a week ago I was out walking on the Bay Trail near where Hayward becomes Union City. I got a nice photo of Canada Goose tracks in a salt pond. I like the photo and I’m reminded that in the Celtic Christian tradition the Holy Spirit is depicted as a wild goose.