From the Pastor's Pen

Dear friends,

I got my second vaccine today at Elkhart General hospital and wanted to tell you a little about it.  First, the vaccination center was well organized and professional.  I didn’t have to wait in line at all.  I answered a few questions and they zipped me into a station where I promptly got my shot.  It didn’t hurt in the least.  If fact I wondered if they had done anything at the time.  I am feeling a little tired at the moment, so it must have been the real thing.  I waited my 15 minutes and headed home. 

I also want to mention why I am getting the vaccine.  I suppose first and foremost I don’t want to get Covid 19!  I have a bad track record with respiratory viruses (bronchitis and pneumonia) and didn’t want to deal with this super virus.  I’m happy to protect my health.  I also wanted to protect my family.  I want to be able to be around my parents in their 90s and to visit my children who live at a distance from me.  The vaccine allows these visits to happen without worrying I might make my loved ones sick.  I also wanted to protect my church family.  As a pastor I am generally in contact with a lot of people.  I don’t want to be responsible for making anyone in our church sick!

Finally I want to do my part for our community.  I believe as Christian people we are called to interdependence.  That is, we are called to connected living with one another and our community.  We are called to care deeply about our neighbors, to love them, to want what is best for them and to seek their highest good.  That means if there is something I can do to protect my neighbor from getting this terrible virus, I will do it.  I will wear a mask and stay 6 feet away from others and get a vaccine.

The Apostle John wrote:  7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 11 Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.  (I John 4: 7-8, 11-12)

Peace,

Pr. Sally