One thing that is touted as a “silver lining” in our struggles with this pandemic is that it unifies us all.  It may be tough, but we are all in this together.  We are all in the same boat.

A clergy colleague of mine recently shared an insightful comment on this idea.  The reality, she said, was that we are all in the same storm but we not in the same boat.

Some of us are in yachts while others are in leaky rowboats or even clinging to floating plywood.  We are all being battered by the same storm, but some of us are weathering things much better than others.

Take the city of Chelsea for example.  The same storm is there that is in Melrose.  And yet the toll that is being taken on that hot-spot city is dramatically different than here in Melrose.

Why?  Because Chelsea has a large immigrant population with consequent language barriers and lack of trust of community authorities.  More importantly, while many of us have been able to work from home during this pandemic, most of Chelsea’s population does not have this luxury.  They are “essential” workers, many of whom clean and disinfect and have jobs where they are not always given the right protective equipment.  They interact with the public regularly and often live in apartments with other families.

Same storm, different boat.

As much as we’d like to think otherwise, our society does not treat everyone equally.  If your skin color is anything other than white, if you are unemployed or can only find part time work, if English is your second language—you are experiencing this pandemic in way that the rest of America is not. 

So here’s a question: What kind of boat would Jesus be in?

Answer that, and you’ll discover the mission of the church and renewed purpose for your own living.

In Christ,

–Rev. Dominic