Today’s author is Kirsten Levorson, Bega Kwa Bega‘s Acting Director
My sense of time changed in March 2020. One day I was hewing to my busy schedule, work and family and volunteer commitments, and planning trip months in advance – and then suddenly, we were in lockdown, with stay-home orders, and the rhythm of my days changed.
Many of us still juggled work, family, school, and other schedules, but we did it with a certain amount of space between events. Working from home, my husband gained two hours a day that had been spent on a commute. Instead of my piano students walking into my studio one after another, at the moment one lesson ends, the next begins, I scheduled breaks between students for cleaning and for ventilation.
Sometimes it felt like we were in the movie Groundhog Day, each day feeling like the one before it. For over a year, I’d ask my piano students, “what’s new?” and each week they would think a moment before responding, “nothing.”
Some of us created new routines to help us mark time. One family held a Sunday evening Zoom call, connecting cousins and generations through conversations and scavenger hunts. Or we lost all track of time while bingeing Netflix. Instead of planning travel to Tanzania to visit Bega Kwa Bega companions, we arranged Zoom meetings with them.
One of the things that sustained me through those early pandemic months was the weekly email I received from companions in the Iringa Diocese of the Lutheran Church in Tanzania. People from my companion congregation were gathering every week to pray for those of us in the Saint Paul Area Synod.
Think of that. Every week. People from neighboring villages would walk a couple of hours, gather to sing hymns, read scripture, and pray for those of us on the other side of the globe.
I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers, because I hear about your love for all his holy people and your faith in the Lord Jesus. I pray that your partnership with us in the faith may be effective in deepening your understanding of every good thing we share for the sake of Christ. Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people.
Philemon 1:4-7
The prayers sent to me in emails used vivid imagery to express confidence in God’s protection and providence. “I pray that Almighty God will cover you and hide you from this coronavirus.” “I pray that God will build a fortress around you and keep you safe.”
When I remember the early months of the pandemic, I remember times of fear and uncertainty, times of unexpected gifts, and times caring for one another even when we were very far apart. And I remember the prayers of our Tanzanian companions, full of love and full of faith.
Thank you, God, that your love and presence is constant in our lives. Through times that feel normal and in times of crisis, your comfort surrounds us through the hands and feet and words of others who love you. Thank you for the comfort of companions on our journeys, and may we be steadfast companions to all who cross our paths. Amen