holiday and church, some adjustments

When the crunch for COVID-19 began it was a Thursday. The first government decision that impacted us came from our local school board at the county level. We live in Frederick County Maryland, and it was announced that schools would be closed beginning March 16. Our neighbor to the west across the River in Virginia closed schools on March 12. What does this mean here in Shullydom? HOLIDAY!

Chris is a Physics teacher for our county. I am no longer employed by the county but taught high school social studies prior to having our first child. I’ve been home schooling for 13 years. We have children in both our local feeder and at home. Essentially when schools close, we are on holiday. Everyone is home. No one is working. We call it that: Holiday…Vacation. 

Sunday we would have gone to church, but church wasn’t open. This post is not about whether it is right to be open or attend in person the 250 people thing came out, it’s simply about how we approach holiday. We take our summers very

seriously. Often traveling for weeks or months at a time. 

It’s a time to gather, to regroup and recharge. We have less contact with family and friends. It is just us. It’s a beautiful thing. Starting when Chris walked into the house on March 13, it was holiday. Snacks abounded, sleep schedules went out the window, games were pulled out, and we relaxed. 

We don’t attend church on holiday. We’re usually not home. I can say for me absence makes the heart grow fonder. I look forward to getting back to our local body of believers after a good bit of time off. When the church made the decision to not meet in person but try to figure out how to do it virtually, we went into no church mode.  

Additional preference background: Only our sophomore son has a real handle on youtube. He watches channels. He takes in information and entertainment. He clicks and scrolls with speed and passion. We just don’t make those a priority. News? Sometimes, but our screens handle Netflix, Disney+, video games, and some sports. Not TED talks. There’s no podcasts either. 

When March 15th rolled around we didn’t attend church. I think most of us were sleeping. After the first run, our pastor was very excited and sent out an email asking: what could be better? did you have any technical difficulties? On March 22nd, we were probably in denial. Still vacation. Still not normal schedule. 

March 29th came, and I decided to have a go at our online service. I was late. It took me and a girl from church to get me into the meeting. I made it. 




It made for some Sunday Funnies:
+ The first being we were still late
+ 6yo actually SINGING the songs. This does not happen in the building.
+ We had a multi-level service. I listened to it upstairs in my “corner office.” Chris listened to it at the dining room table. 
+ 8yo asks if there will be a break for snack and drinks. 8yo is thrilled when the pastor says we’ll have a quick break between singing and his sermon. We grabbed oatmeal cream pies, rugula, and hot cocoa.
+ You could move between floors and not miss
anything...that you could get an move around was really nice  
+ During the sermon the pastor referenced C S Lewis and the 6yo says, “Mom, we read C S Lewis. The Chronicles. We should read them again.”

It was fine. Our local body is making it work. We made it work. It doesn’t change the fact that God is still here. He is still all the things he says he is. It is nice to know our church longs to be together. Here’s to what looks like how more Sundays to come will be.