Thoughts on Life and Worship

  We have finally put 2020 in the rear-view mirror!   We never saw it coming, but the year “that will live in infamy” ran us over like a Mac Truck. 2020 has been very painful.   We’ve been isolated with shut-downs to “flatten the curve” and quarantined folks who may not be sick but may have been exposed.   Some people have lost their jobs and many businesses have closed their doors, never to open again.   Worst of all, many of us have loved ones or friends who have succumbed to the virus.   We’ll never see them again or hear their voice this side of heaven.   Too many of us have felt that grief. I’m sure you’re as glad as I am to move on down the road into 2021.   The question remains, what will this new year bring for us? We’ve got lots of questions, to be sure.   Now that we have effective vaccines available, how long will it take until we’ve reached “herd immunity” so that we can return to some sense of normalcy?   2020 was a year of deep political animosity.   With a new year a

COVID-19 has hit us hard.   I’m writing this column from home where I am convalescing from the virus which I contracted over four weeks ago.   Fortunately, my symptoms are abating and I am regaining my energy.   Not everyone has been so fortunate.   A colleague our mine succumbed to the virus two days before Thanksgiving.   Even in my small world, I’m aware of loved ones who have passed and others who are in very serious trouble because of CV-19.   I don’t even want to imagine what the coming weeks and months might bring with the virus-friendly conditions of winter and the strong possibility of another surge because of holiday festivities.   But hope is on the horizon.   Just this week, Britain approved the use of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.   Approval for the two vaccines that have been submitted to our own FDA seems immanent.   Within weeks, front-line health care workers and residents in long-term care should begin to receive the first of millions of life-saving vaccines in our