My wife and I have a bird feeder outside a dining room window. Various birds from the common house sparrow to more exotic song birds visit so often that I need to refill it several times a day. Our house cats, Eleanor and Lucy, enjoy sitting on the window sill watching with rapt attention the birds’ coming and going . Occasionally they’ll call to the birds with a wobbly throaty cat imitation.

We also have squirrels visit the feeder at the end of they day. They are largely scavengers, cleaningup “ the left-overs.”. I don’t mind. All of God’s creatures have gotta eat. 

Over the past few months I have been impressed by the squirrels tenacity and dexterity. They continually find new ways to get that last seed. In their creativity I find a glimpse of grace. 

We are living in a Covid era. I am hesitant to call it “post-Covid” because Covid is simply the latest virus to emerge from “Pandora’s Box”. I believe that it will be with us for the foreseeable future. We will learn to live with it. This is our generation’s new reality. We will never be able to return to a pre-Covid time. And I believe that Covid pushed existing trends ahead 10 to 20 years. The Church as well as local congregations will need to adjust to this new reality. Like “my” squirrels we will need all of the dexterity, creativity, strength, and skill to continue fulfilling our true mission: to go and make disciples of all people, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spiridt; teaching them to observe all that Christ commanded and to remember that, the Risen Lord is with us until the end of the age (Matthew 28)

I believe that this new reality is not a sacary time, but an exciting one. We get to shed old ways of doing things that longer meet current opportunities and be creative in revitalizing still relevant ministries while giving birth to new ones in this emerging time.