In our parish profile at St. George’s, Maplewood, one of the desires identified by the parish was to expand the congregation’s impact beyond its immediate South Orange/Maplewood community.
Bishop Hughes notes that during this complicated time, it is not unusual for someone to say to her, “I don't know how to hold on to hope right now. I’m so frustrated, I am so angry, I have had enough.” Or, “I’m exhausted, I can't bring myself to care anymore.” And when she replies, “How about we pray?” there's a sense of hope that is reborn in wanting to pray.
"I think we get overwhelmed when we think we, on our own, must change the whole world or that we, on our own, cannot change the difficult issues that are facing us," says Bishop Hughes. "And there is rightness to that: on our own, we cannot do it. But if every single one of us does a little bit, if every single one of us does one thing only, then God, working through us, is able to make big changes in the world."
After almost 18 months, Episcopal House has reopened, beginning yesterday, September 7th. In March 2020, Bishop Hughes closed Episcopal House for routine use as part of our response to the pandemic. This decision was reinforced by the Governor of New Jersey’s directive at the time that anyone who could work from home should do so. Most of the diocesan staff has been working from home either completely or on a hybrid schedule, though some staff members have been in the building regularly, depending on their work responsibilities.
Bishop Hughes has stuck in her head the spiritual "Keep your lamps trimmed and burning," and finds it a comforting instruction for us to follow in these troubling, chaotic times.
In the course of the summer we have seen our entire diocese move to a lower risk level (Yellow or Medium Risk on covidactnow.org) in June, but many counties in our diocese have returned to a higher risk level (Orange or High Risk) since then and, in the case of Essex County for a week or so, even a brief return to Red or Very High Risk level. As of this writing at the end of July, all our counties are Orange/High except for one Yellow/Medium county.
Just as we had begun to enjoy the summer, the pandemic has taken an unexpected turn with infection rates suddenly spiking again. It could be easy right now to be discouraged or frustrated, says Bishop Hughes, but God has planted hope in us, and it's important for us to hold on to that hope as we persevere.
Starting with the words from Isaiah, "Behold I am doing a new thing," Bishop Hughes reflects on the new things we have started learning and doing in the Diocese of Newark in the 15 months since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and what the path forward might look like.
"One of the ways we can make a complicated time more joyful is to thank those who have helped us so much along this way," says Bishop Hughes.
We have learned so much during the pandemic. We have deepened our faith and grown spiritually so much during this time. And the God that we have learned to follow more closely in the hardest parts of pandemic will help us as we continue to ease our way out of pandemic.
