Dear Hot Metal Family,

When I sat down to write this email and I thought about what I have been feeling, and what I have heard from others about how they are feeling, the word "weary" came to mind. It's not a word we really use in modern dialogue anymore, but captures the sense of tiredness, numbness, uncertainty, static inertia, sadness and grieving I know I have been feeling. This time of pandemic and isolation has been going on for so long, I am weary of it...but I am also weary of the constant questions and uncertainty moving into the "Yellow" phase of Governor Wolf's plan brings.

There's not much that will change here at Hot Metal, even as the rest of the county might begin opening up. We are committed to prioritizing the health of the most vulnerable, and for now that means continued virtual church and gatherings...as weary as Zoom makes us. I know many of us are "Zoomed out," and if that means you need to take a break from Zoom church, that's just fine!

And yet, I continue to find the ways we gather important, even if the length of my naps afterward increase (that could also just be being pregnant...but I think it's a combination). In the midst of our weariness, I think we need the reminder of a God who is bigger than a pandemic, and yet also walks with us through our weariness. We need community however we can get it to know that we are not alone in this time. So thank you for still showing up when you can, however you can.

Here are some words from the prophet Isaiah for you to hold onto this week, as you might continue to get weary. "Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. God does not faint or grow weary; God's understanding is unsearchable. God gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." May you remember that this time will come to an end (eventually), and that God is bigger than our weariness.

In peace,
Pastor Erin