I miss all of you. It is hard for all of us not to be together. I am thankful for the work that has been done to record the services online. We have tried to limit the number of people involved to keep faith with social distancing. I hope this has been contributing to both your mental and spiritual well being. The scriptural advice to “not forsake the assembling of yourselves together” is less a command to be obeyed and more an acknowledgement of our need for each other. Faith needs community. A good way to strengthen community is to meet together for worship. The circumstances we currently face make that unwise, so we need to think of other ways to strengthen our sense of Christian community. We can do that through our prayers. As someone expressed it “When we are in the presence of God we are also present with each other.” It is also good to strengthen each other with whatever contact is appropriate and safe. Holy hugs may have to be more metaphorical than physical but they can express our spiritual unity. When on skype, our granddaughter spreads her arms for a TV hug, Grandma and I feel the love reaching across the distance. Let’s find creative ways to express our care for each other and turn this hard time into another loving moment of community.