Tuesday, April 7

Good morning, dear church,

You know that you are going through a crisis when your almost 90-year-old mother-in-law calls, worried that she hasn’t heard for days from her family in that Pennsylvania “hotbed” of the virus, Montgomery County.  Of course, it’s not that bad here, compared to New York, New Jersey, and other places, but “grandma” lives in Lycoming County where there are more deer than people, and she has been contently living by herself in her old Victorian for decades now. She sees the news and numbers from Montgomery County and gets worried. Two of her four daughters live here. I assured her that we are fine. Mothers never stop worrying, do they?

But you also know it’s serious when you start to know people who are infected with the virus. Yesterday, Ethan Geehr called me and let me know that his mother Lois had contracted it. Lois Geehr is a wonderful lady.  She lives in the Nursing section of Springhouse Estates. Married to the late Pastor Frederic Geehr (who died last year), she always brought something special to the church community. I still have one of her art pieces depicting Baptism in my office. She and Fred loved art and music and were passionate singers. When we had Adult Forums in my early years, Lois always contributed some amazing insights. No wonder, for years she had worked for a Christian Publishing House and proof-read the works of famous or not so famous theologians, including Walter Bruggeman, which may not mean anything to most of you, but trust me, he is one of the greats. I told my visitation deacons the following story, which really touched me. Back in January, when I saw her in person for the last time I was somehow going through a “down” time. I didn’t think I was wearing it on my sleeve, but who knows? In any case, in the course of our short visit, she suddenly turned to me with the Sixth Sense of a pastor’s wife and said to me, “Are you taking care of yourself? You know, pastors need to take care of themselves too.”  She had never said anything like that to me in my many visits over the course of years, but this one was timed perfectly! Somehow the Holy Spirit had guided her! Now, before you get all worried, I will let you know that she has had the virus for a number of days and has shown only mild symptoms. Let us pray that Lois pulls through this! As you know, Nursing homes are especially vulnerable right now, not just because they house the most vulnerable population, but also because of the proximity of residents, patients and the medical staff in closed quarters.  Let us pray that Lois pulls through this!

Like many of you, I continue to wonder how this crisis may shape or change our society. The short and true answer to that is of course: we shall see! Might we experience a major shift in our value system? Yesterday, I read one of those letters to the editor in the Inquirer. In ordinary times, I would read his letter and forget about it, thinking that these things will NEVER change. In these times, maybe he does touch on something bigger and maybe we are more ready for it??? Here are his remarks:

“Dr. Anthony Fauci makes $ 335,000 a year for managing the coronavirus pandemic, while Joe Girardi will earn 10 times that amount to manage the Phillies. The average salary of an ER doctor is $ 275,000. Patrick Dempsey was paid $ 400,000 per episode to play a pretend doctor on TV. Le Bron James is paid $434,000 per game.  Whom would you rather have at your hospital bedside at this moment?…

Will we have a parade down Broad Street with a million people to honor the health care workers, civil servants, grocery workers and many others who are the true heroes in our society right now? What we really miss is each other. It’s people that matter, and maybe when this is over, we should reassess the people that really matter in our society.” (Ray Graboski, Harleysville)                         

This week we are busy preparing for a wonderful virtual service for Easter. We will have some conversations today and after that, I will let you know how you perhaps can play a part in it.  By tomorrow I will have suggestions and instructions. 

I also have another request for those of you who like to write and reflect. Our Adult Faith Formation Team discussed this in our last meeting (3 months BC – Before Corona Virus), and I think this is as good a time as any to initiate this long term project. We are looking for any number of people (my goal is 30!) who would be interested in writing a reflection about a Scripture verse. The larger goal is the creation of a St. Peter’s Devotional Book with a devotion for every day of the year (365). My thinking is that we will accomplish this over the course of three years and the participants will write four or five devotional pieces per year (more if you like). I will create a list of about 250 different scripture verses broken down into various themes. The rest will be scripture verses that people choose themselves. In any case, I don’t need to get into detail here. At this point, I would simply like to know: who is interested in this? Who would write for us? And if you are interested but you aren’t sure you can do it, please try! If it isn’t for you, you can back out. (I promise!) I am interested in as many different voices and styles as possible. So, please let me know… and by late April all those who have responded will receive instructions. Remember: we are the little church that does big things!     

Finally, here is something for our church facemask brigade. One of the most difficult things to find is elastic. Below, Karen Sayuk shares how you can make elastic yourself.

Be blessed and be well! May God’s peace be with you!

Pastor Andreas Wagner

Hope you and the family are doing well. I have come up with a homemade elastic since regular elastic is unavailable. Perhaps the St. Peter’s Sewing Brigade might find it useful.

1. Cut a strip of stretchy cotton knit fabric to a width of 1.25 inches (JoAnns Fabrics has plenty)

2. Fold the two sides into the center and press

3. Fold the strip in half and press

4. Insert in sewing machine and sew with a stretchy form of zigzag stitch

5. See zigzag stitch on my machine

6. Use homemade elastic exactly like regular elastic to make masks

7. Finished masks with homemade elastic / does go through the washer fine