At home... (Pr. Craig Mueller)
Several weeks into the pandemic The New York Times suspended the travel and sports sections of their Sunday edition. Instead, a new section, At Home, includes simple recipes, ideas for family games and art projects, and creative suggestions for making the most of quarantine.
We are into the twenty-second week of this weird reality of staying home and experiencing much of life through our computers: video conferencing with work colleagues and families; classes, advocacy and interest groups; and yes, even church. Thanks to all who filled out Holy Trinity’s survey regarding online worship, communion, and returning to our building. We have had a great response so far, but we would like as many as possible to participate—this coming Sunday is the deadline.
The more we learn about the coronavirus and vaccines, the more we sense we will not be returning soon to the lives we knew only a year ago. It appears that most churches, schools, and other organizations will be moving to a hybrid approach in the future: a combination of in-person and online gatherings.
There are many losses that I grieve in not being together in person for the multisensory liturgy that we treasure. At the same time, these next months and years will be an opportunity for us to see our homes as a locus of ritual and spirituality. I envy Jews for the rich ritual experience centered in their homes: Passover seders, lighting Chanukah candles, and of course, the weekly Shabbat meal that ushers in the Sabbath. Throughout the day faithful Jews recite blessings, connecting faith and their everyday lives.
In some Christian circles the home is sometimes called the “domestic church.” Though we may gather on Sunday as the assembly of God’s people, it is in the home where most of the daily rhythms of life occur: preparing meals and eating, cleaning and working, conversing and sharing hospitality, resting and sleeping.
Yet to use the word “home” does not suggest simply one picture. It may be a large house, an apartment, a single room, or a bed in a care center. It can be a retirement home or a convent. It may include children with one or more parents. It may be for one person, a group of people living together, or roommates. In all these settings the ordinary patterns of daily life hold the opportunity for celebrating God’s gracious presence.
I hope that our congregation, denomination, and publishing house develop new materials to help us pray and observe rituals in our home. Someone suggested to me that we should not only bless backpacks, but we should also bless masks and computers, for example.
A simple way to begin is meal blessing and prayers, if you are not already doing so. Here is a starter kit. Mix and match among these options:
Make the sign of the cross.
Be mindful of the food before you. Pause, look at the food for a moment of silence before you eat.
Come Lord Jesus, be our guest. Let these gifts to us be blessed. Blessed be God who is our bread. May all the world be clothed and fed.
Bless us, O Lord, and these your gifts which we are about to receive from your bounty. Through Christ our Lord.
O give thanks to the Lord whose mercy endures forever.
The eyes of all wait upon you, O Lord, and you give them their food in due season. You open wide your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
May all be fed. May all be healed. May all be loved.
For what we are about to receive, may the Lord make us truly thankful.
O God, bless this food we are about to receive. Give bread to those who hunger, and hunger for justice to those of us who have bread. (Nicaraguan)
Families: check out Peanut Butter and Jelly Prayers (Morehouse, 2016) by our own Julie Sevig.
Though not together in person on Sundays, may you experience blessings of grace these days even as you bless God in times of both joy and sorrow, plenty and want.
