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As we round a second week after the call to increase the physical distance between us, we are also called to recall the links we already have that keep us together – even when we are apart. And we are called to find new ways to maintain – and deepen – those links.

Throughout the world, people are finding ways of staying together through the physical distancing recommendations by global health agencies and civil leaders. Amid the challenges these requirements bring, folks are exploring how we might support each other, encourage each other, bring the warmth of community from six feet away – or a continent apart.

And we cannot forget the harsh reality that these requirements represent…

Staying apart, staying away, staying at home. These are not easy tasks for many of us.

And these are even harder tasks for folks who are already vulnerable when economic uncertainty was already a reality, when staying away may mean critical time apart from loved ones, when home may not be safe, or when there is no home to stay at.

These are impossible asks for those who are required to offer us essential services, like healthcare professionals, grocery store employees, chain-of-supply labourers, utility workers, and many more who we depend on – without even realizing it. The list of essential services in Ontario outlines over 74 kinds of workplaces that may remain open while many of us are asked to remain apart. And despite the challenge, they are still responding to that ask.

This is more the reason why those of us who can, are called to work in solidarity with all who cannot, or may not. So that we may contribute to minimizing not only our risk – but also minimizing the risk to those who must face that risk, now and in days to come.

This pandemic has reminded us that the people we depend on are many and more varied than we often recognize, and that they are often unseen or underappreciated.

This pandemic has reminded us of the reality that the world is more closely tied than we have realized before. And this can bring a whole deal of wonder and admiration for what we can do for each other, as well as clarity about the fact that we really do depend on each other – be it for resources, services, or support.

This reality also amplifies the liabilities that come when what touches one affects us all. And the reality that quick transmission of disease is also easier than before.

My friends, at a time when transportation technology has made it easier than ever to physically come together, it has also become easier than ever to virtually come together, while staying physically apart.

This is a reality in which the greatest liabilities of our interconnectedness invite us to use our greatest assets for connecting.

A reality that, by being apart, we are working together.

When we’ve lit our chalice during our in-person services, we have repeated the words – as the wick joins the flame to the candle may our separate selves be joined in one community of warmth and light.

We can still join our separate selves in one community of warmth and light. It won’t be the same, and we look forward to a time when many of us can meet in person as well. And during this time, we can also explore how some alternatives can bring us closer together.

Already in the past few weeks, we have expanded how often we connect remotely, and by which means we can do so. From telephone conversations with friends, family, or fellow congregants, to more frequent mail post, to videoconferencing options that are becoming available to us.

In these ways, we may keep the rituals of mutual care alive. We may tell each other our sorrows and our joys. We may reflect upon what is important to us and the values of our faith, which calls us to remember that love is a more positive force for good than fear.

And during this time, some of us may even have opportunities to step back from other aspects of our lives and contemplate those other dimensions of our lives and homes that are often swept aside. To come in closer relationship with ourselves.

My friends, to everything there is a season. There is a time to take acceptable risks, and a time to play it safe. A time to do work, out in the community, and a time to work on our community, at home. A time to gather together, and a time to wave at each other from afar.

My friends this is a time to play it safe, a time to work on our community at home, a time to wave at each other from afar.

In Solidarity, so may it be.
Amen

Suggested hymns:

108 My Life Flows On in Endless Song (interpreted by The Chancel Choir of the First Unitarian Church of Oakland, CA – Edited by AMIKEMA)

157 Step by Step the Longest March (directed by Matt Meyer)