Dear Church, Siblings in Christ, South Dakota Synod,
Grace and peace to you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit!
A seasoned home-bound member of one of the congregations I served once said to me: “As I age the days pass by slowly, while the years fly by.” At the time I didn’t fully understand, but throughout this past year, I have come to understand these words better. As we look back on a year living with and being the Church during the Coronavirus pandemic, I had days that moved along painfully slowly. Now, as I look back on the entire year, I can’t believe that it has been 12 months already. It seems just like yesterday that life as we knew it has changed forever. Last year today I wrote in my journal: “Covid-19 sweeps through nations in the blink of an eye. But most frightening is the angst it brings along as a companion.”
As we mark this anniversary I would like to to begin with the Apostle Paul’s words “Every time I think of you, I give thanks.” (Philippians 1:3) These last 12 months have been challenging for each and everyone of us. While we most certainly are not all in the same boat, we found ourselves in the same storm. And here we are, still being church, still being beloved children of an awesome God. Thank you, for being Church in challenging times. Thank you for being Church together. Thank you for journeying together in Christ. “Every time I think of you, I give thanks.”
I also dare to say that we didn’t just show up during the pandemic as a Church in South Dakota, but we have wrestled with and grown in our understanding what Church is. The traditional Sunday school rhyme goes like this: “This is the church, this is the steeple, open the doors, see all the people.” We have learned to alter it in these past twelve months. “This is the church, the building’s closed, but there still is a steeple, and look, God’s on the loose amongst the people.” You have found new ways or rediscovered and reactivated ‘old tricks’ to continue the proclamation of God’s Word, to care for the neighbor, to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. Thank you!
I would also like to invite us to pause for the over half a million lives lost to Covid-19. Some of these deaths are family members, co-workers, friends, and neighbors. Undoubtedly Covid-19 has changed us personally, our state, country and world, but also our churches. We are no longer who we were before Covid-19 and we will not ever be who we were. But the good news is that because we believe in a God who can bring forth life out of all circumstances, even from death, we have everything we need to bring hope and healing to the hurting places in our lives and communities.
Dear Church, I challenge you to create safe spaces that invite and allow people to name and mourn the people, opportunities and freedoms they have lost without being condemned, shunned and labeled. We need to remember that losses throughout the pandemic come in various forms, feel different for different people and impact individuals and communities in manifold and oftentimes yet unknown ways. Our job as the Church is to provide for spaces and opportunities that promote healing and reconciliation. Every single loss is real. I urge you to be patient, kind and loving with your siblings in Christ, to listen so you understand because just like you, your neighbor walks as wet as you do. Both of you are broken and have been forgiven. Both of you, even if you are as far from each other as the East is from the West, are claimed by the same Triune God, who calls you both beloved children.
Therefore I urge you to treat your neighbor as you want to be treated and provide for each other what is needed to be reconciled in Christ not because of who you are, but because of who God is, what he has done and continues to do. Dear SD Synod, God has called us to journey together, because he believes that together we can be more and do more than on our own.
Over the past year I have heard many of you say: “I just want to go back to normal.” And again I ask, “which normal?” When I traveled the state following my 2019 election, you unanimously told me that you don’t think the way we are currently the Church is what the Church is ought to be of tomorrow. Remember, this was said pre-pandemic. Then you asked me to lead you into becoming the Church God challenges us to grow into for the sake of being living witnesses to a God who can bring forth life amidst dust, ashes, death and a pandemic.
“Nothing is impossible for God.” I trust these words from Matthew 19:26 and I invite you to do the same as we stretch and are teased to leave our comfort zones behind for the sake of furthering God’s kingdom so that all are welcome. After all, we are Easter people. We believe that there is life in the midst of death.
Please know that I have assembled a task force of lay people and rostered ministers from the South Dakota Synod to work on tools and modules for revitalizing ministry. You can expect to access these resources in the late Spring and early Summer so that you have ample of time to prepare for your congregation’s Fall ministry and activities.
Last but not least, because of your generous 2020 mission support we were able to close our fiscal year with extraordinary gifts — gifts beyond what we had hoped for in the year. The synod council is making plans to return these extraordinary gifts as seeds for the future to the congregations of the South Dakota Synod to begin new ministries, and to support and equip leaders and congregations for God’s future. Thank you for the many ways you continue to be witnesses of the good news of Jesus Christ across the synod.
May God continue to bless you as we journey together in this new season of being church.
Journeying Together in Christ,
Bishop Constanze Hagmaier
