Perils and Palm Sunday

Yesterday, I decided to make a trek to the WalMart Neighborhood Market, which is open earlier than other places.  I knew that we would be out of both coffee and wine in a few days, and I thought there might be a chance that toilet paper had been restocked.  We also need mosquito repellent rather desperately.

Off I went.  More people were wearing masks than when I went 2 weeks ago.  Did they really look more terrified or did I just imagine it because the mask obscured so much of the face?  We all kept our distance from each other.  I continued to smile at everyone.

Some of the workers wore a mask and gloves, some wore just gloves, and most wore nothing at all.  I, too, wore nothing, and I didn't wash my hands until I got home.  We had talked about washing all the groceries, but in the end, we didn't, a decision made more out of laziness/exhaustion than anything else.

Some people in the parking lot drove like they were preparing for the wrong apocalypse, as if nuclear bombs were on the way, not a plague.

Yesterday afternoon I did some grading and then I read the next book for my certificate program.    I hope that this pandemic won't be the death knell for both the program and the seminary.  Like many educational institutions, I suspect it wouldn't take much for the institution to go under.

It is a strange situation, with the economy imploding, and yet, the sunrises have been beautiful.

And now it is time to go to church to assist with the streaming of the Palm Sunday service.  We are likely going to experience one of the strangest Holy Weeks that any of us have ever had.  Hopefully we can find the unexpected bauty there too.