In these extraordinary times, while our ordinary lives are turned upside down, we may be finding ourselves turning to tasks we have put off for a long time. Deep cleaning. Pulling weeds in the yard. Finally getting around to that jigsaw puzzle. Going through old pictures. I came across a little photo album of the last big Wuertz reunion in Ohio. It was October 2003. All of us Florida Wuertz’s went up. How did we end up down here? Well, my Grandaddy was the “renegade”, the oldest of seven and the presumed heir to the family farm in Amlin. But “Gramps” had other plans. In 1933 he applied for and got a teaching position at a new school, The University of Tampa. My Dad was a year old when they made that epic move. At the big get-together, we worshiped as a family in the church that my great-great grandfather helped build. It was memorable, as all family reunions are. I loved hearing all the old stories, many told by my Dad, who is one of our family historians.

Many of us are having those memories in these extraordinary days. For many of you, this loneliness and isolation can be almost unbearable. I find myself thinking more about lost loved ones. This month marks the tenth anniversary of my father-in-law’s last dreadful days, losing the battle with cancer. I wonder what he, my mother, my brother-in-law, my grandparents think of this global pandemic. They are blissfully unaware, I think. I do wonder how they would be responding in this crisis. Now we think very hard about whether to go anywhere. Unless a family is hunkered down together under one roof, the notion of a large family reunion will have to be on hold for a good long while.

It is Tuesday of Holy Week. It has been three quarters of a century since the world endured something of this magnitude. The Surgeon General says that this is our Pearl Harbor. Let’s drill deeper, though. This is the Passion of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In perfect symmetry, we apprehend his suffering and death for our salvation. We bear the cross of social distancing, recalling that he died totally abandoned by God. Allow yourself to feel the weight, the gravitas of it all. We long for the next reunions. Being actually together again as brothers and sisters in the family of God. Jesus returning  to join us with our departed loved ones. In the perfect symmetry of Holy Week and a global pandemic, we are day by day drawing closer to resurrection. God’s promises, His unconditional love, will see us through.

Pastor Art