April 2, 2020

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!
My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.
Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.
Happy are those who live in your house, ever singing your praise.

Psalm 84: 1-4

Thinking about what "Home" means today....

I was talking with my son this week, who lives in New York City...and he mentioned...that it doesn't feel like the home he moved back to, (after living and working in Italy for a few years)....

He's been "back home" in NYC...for well over a year..(maybe 2 years now? - I'm losing track of time)...

When he steps out into the street...everything is changed...
When he looks out the window....everything is changed...
He can't go to all the shows or the movies, or sit down in restaurants....all that has changed...

No more bumping into people, on the busy sidewalks of a city, that almost never stops...all that has changed...
All the loud noises on the city streets, the screeching/honking car horns, the sirens, the subways....all of that has changed...

There is a silence...

All of us, no matter where we live, have moved to a new place now...whether we wanted to or not...
This time of the COVID 19 pandemic has uprooted us all, from the familiar places we have called home.

There is a silence...that leaves us, worrying...longing....wondering...what's next?

There is a silence...in which new ideas are emerging...creative energy is bubbling up...and imaginations are free to roam...

There is a silence...in the unknowns of today, and for the days ahead...

But, it will be there, in that silence...where we will find our true home again...

Rev Julie Platson

St Peter’s by the Sea Episcopal Church

Sitka, Alaska