This weekly pastoral message by the Interim Ministry Team comes out on Wednesdays. Rev. Meg, Rev. Terri and Arif will take turns writing or recording a video. 

The poet Nayyirah Waheed writes:

“feel it. the thing that you don’t want to feel. feel it. and be free.”

Waheed’s work often cuts right to the heart of things, and here, to me at least, it’s a bit like she’s reaching in and shaking me by the shoulders saying feel it. Not necessarily in a hard way, these words of hers can just as easily be soft, gentle, like a friend or loved one helping us connect to and give voice to our yearning.  

So many of us are impacted by this pandemic in so many different ways. As I’ve noted recently, this pandemic is hyper-local. Our worlds are smaller – shrinking down to the places we live, the ways we get necessary supplies, the shift in how we do or do not see other human beings. In some ways, each of us is living a slightly different pandemic as we each make choices, discern what is “right” for us, and do our best to keep ourselves and the ones we love as safe as possible. 

It is no surprise then that there might be things that we don’t want to feel. Things that we’re holding back, holding at bay, holding away from our hearts because we can’t imagine our hearts carrying any more. And still there’s the invitation from Waheed. 

Feel it. Let it in. Let it move through, so that in the moving through we can get a little more free. 

May we all find ways to get a little more free. 

— Arif