Did you know that I am an introvert? I could easily go the rest of my life without being told to "social distance".
In fact, there are a minimum amount of people that I chat with during the week. There are a few key people from church and a few key people from Framingham University that are in my sphere. I also connect with people from the Christian Teachers Special Interest Group in KOTESOL.
The last fifteen months have been rather radioactive. It is funny to think that people are dangerous, but we are living that way.
I miss social gatherings, but I do not miss crowds.
I would just like to get together with a few of my closest friends and celebrate life.
After 14 months of forced solitude, I know that we are better together. All of us.
Those of us who like each other, and those of who who don't. Friends and strangers. Colleagues and classmates. Neighbors and relatives. Congregants and caretakers. We are made to mix it up for our own good and for the glory of God, and I believe it pleases him when we do.
We have to remember that Jesus gathered people. He gathered people in small groups and large groups. He gathered enemies and friends.
Jesus was right in there with them, shoulder to shoulder, eye to eye. On hillsides. In the temple. In homes. Around tables. In gardens and fishing boats. At weddings and funerals. His last gathering was a dinner he planned from beginning to end--and when it was done he promised not to do it again until all those he loved could join him.
These days, when I open my individually packaged and hermetically sealed wafer and cup six feet from any other human (and don't get me wrong--it's better than nothing), I wish like I never have before for that coming feast.
We are better together.
I imagine the faces of ones I have said goodbye to. I can hear the sounds of their laughter and the hugs and the tears.
And I can imagine the face of the One I've loved since I was small. I'll know him in a heartbeat because I've known him all along, and his embrace will be the antidote to distance forever.
We are better together. We always have been.
For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.
Matthew 18:20