Alka's Angle March 19, 2020

A video message from our pastor, Rev. Alka Lyall


Transcript is included below.

"Thank you for continuing to be community. Thanks for all those who are checking in on members of our community. Thanks to all those who have volunteered to run errands for our elderly members and those with any level of risk during this time. Thanks to those who are extending a helping hand in any way."


Dear Broadway community,

 

Wao! Who would have thought we would ever experience this! I don’t think any one of us who are alive today have gone through a pandemic like this. The last time our world had experienced something of such magnitude, according to CDC, was the Spanish Flu in 1918.

 

I say this, not to scare anyone. All I am trying to say is that no one knows what to do about it! These are uncharted waters for all of us. We are treading the waters as best as we can! I am also trying to say that we don’t know when this will end. We don’t know what tomorrow will look like. We are learning something new every day. We are following the announcements as closely as we can and making our decisions based on that.

 

On that note, I am grateful to all who joined us for worship last Sunday via zoom. We will do the same for the next two Sundays at least. The link for it will be shared with you by email and through all our social media platforms. We are keeping our Facebook page, Facebook group and website as updated as we humanly can. 

 

Friends, in the midst of all the anxiety, I am also seeing humans caring for one another. I have seen many invites on Facebook where members of the community are offering free classes, services, and opportunities to be in community.

 

Isn’t that what church is about anyway? About caring for one another, loving one another and supporting one another as Jesus would? So, thank you for continuing to be community. Thanks for all those who are checking in on members of our community. Thanks to all those who have volunteered to run errands for our elderly members and those with any level of risk during this time. Thanks to those who are extending a helping hand in any way.

 

Friends -- please take very good care of yourself. Remember to wash your hands. Call your friends. Check on your neighbors. Follow The Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH)’s advice. Please visit www.chicago.gov/coronavirus for more information, or www.cdc.gov/coronavirus or, email coronavirus@chicago.gov, or call 312-746-4835. Let us know if you need anything. Let us know if you have suggestion for us to be community to each other. Beloved, together, let us continue to be CHURCH -- remember Church is Community not Concrete. Church is People not Property. Thank you for being Church!

 

May God bless you and I hope to see you at church online!  May God give all of us the strength we need for each day to do the work that we are called to do. And remember, I am always your partner in justice.