From Rev. Talitha Arnold, minister at United Church of Santa Fe:
The future we plan for is not always the future we get. I just made that up, but maybe some famous, wise person said words to that effect sometime in the past :-). Probably any of us could have said it ever since March of this year.
This year has been a crash course in the challenges and pitfalls of planning for the future. A good case in point are United’s almost brand-new education and youth rooms. After years of trying to fit all the church’s children’s and youth ministries and adult education programs into two classrooms and a converted storage building, we finally had the resources five years ago to build more space. We thought the construction project would take a year, but it took three. Finally two years ago this fall, we dedicated two new classrooms, a youth room, and the expanded nurture center. The future looked bright for developing the ministries (and communities of kids and adults) to use those rooms, not only on Sunday mornings but throughout the week. We also planned to make the downstairs Youth Room available to weekday community groups, because we made sure it had outside access and a restroom downstairs.
Those future plans all “zoom-ed” out the window seven months ago, and it’s still uncertain what United’s ongoing children’s and youth ministry, as well as adult faith formation, will look like even after there’s a coronavirus vaccine.
But . . . ever since school started, 18 first-graders from El Camino Real Elementary School have been going to school (virtually) every day in United’s Youth Room! Javier Berges, an El Camino Real bilingual first-grade teacher, has set up his online classroom downstairs. He and his wife, also an elementary teacher, have three school-age children, and their house lacked the bandwidth needed for everyone to be online every day at the same time. In early August when it was clear that public school would start online, I’d reached out to United educators and parents to see if there was any way for United to help by providing space. El Camino Real Principal (and United member) Jack Lain reached back and shared Javier’s situation. The rest is history.
Actually the rest is future! Even if schools go to a hybrid model, Javier will still need a room to teach online. His 5th grade son Pablo will continue to need a space to “go” to his school (and get away from his younger siblings). (As a youngest sibling, I know how important that is!)
Yes, the future we plan for is seldom the future we get, but I thank God for the faith and commitment of those who built the United Church of Santa Fe, not knowing what the future would hold but having the faith to trust the God of all time—past, present, future. For four decades, God has called the United Church to be open to that future, to the needs of God’s people and the power of God’s Spirit to meet those needs. May we have the faith and commitment to hear that call anew.
Blessings for this odd and challenging time.
Talitha
From Jack Lain, El Camino Real Principal
Talitha (and Lin): Thank you SO MUCH for working with Javier so that he can teach his classes. He is much more relaxed and his students are the beneficiaries of his incredible instruction!