I spoke in my weekly video about a meeting I’ve been attending with local clergy and faith leaders and shared a question that we contemplated today.

We called this place Innisfree because I’ve always loved the poet WB Yeats. When I went to Ireland, about eight years ago, I had hoped to visit the real Lake Isle of Innisfree. There were other places in Ireland that I’d dreamed about and imagined, primarily from literature. One was the Blasket Islands off the west coast. I made it to Dingle during my month’s time there, and I saw them from the mainland, but there were no regular transports to the Islands as it was still late winter. Nor could I get to the Aran Islands in Galway Bay, another place I’d come to love through words. The weather forbade it.

In a Zoom meeting with about 14 Nashville religious leaders and a few professors, I listened as clergy, Jewish, Baptist and Methodist, shared from the heart about how they find faith in the time of travail.

I decided to use an old-fashioned greeting since in some ways, we feel time has stopped and even gone backwards.

This is a check-in for your spirit. Stay connected! For a video message from Rev. Cynthia, click Check-in for You Spirit.

Hello from my isolation to yours!

I am here in Kentucky at my farm. Seth is watching Monty Python and laughing. Eric is busy building porches and renovating our tiny house. We had planned to use some inheritance funds to build a house on the ridge of our land, but we decided it would be more sustainable to fix this one up. At first, I was disappointed, because since we bought this 25-acre farm, I’ve planned and expected to move out to the lower acreage, where it’s breezy even in hot weather and where the view is gorgeous year-round. I pictured spending my older years there, at least until it becomes impractical.

As the coronavirus has continued to expand in the United States, schools, businesses, and houses of worship have shut down. Even though CV-19 is only showing up in a handful of persons, in Tennessee, wisdom and experience (as well as common sense) tell us that the outbreak here is just weeks away.

The GNUUC Board along with the Healthy Congregations Team (HCT) held a Zoom meeting and discussed the epidemic and our response to it in detail. I mostly listened, because it’s my policy to empower leadership, and they were doing a great job without my two cents! Not only should you be proud of their decision-making process, you should be impressed by the care and concern for each of you, along with the respectful and thoughtful way they interact with one another. I can honestly say that I’ve never seen a Board with such an enlightened process. With an MD, several tech people, and people who “get” data and information, they made hopeful but realistic decisions for the immediate future and set the stage for future emergencies. I feel honored to be working hand-in-hand with them.

How quickly things can change!

We awoke on Tuesday to the horrible news of the tornado in Nashville. I was at home in KY, and I hated the feeling of being separated from this city, which I have come to love. As we learned that our members and our building weren’t personally affected, I felt relief, yet I know that it is now time to reach out and help others. Nashville is our home, and it surprised me to find that I felt so deeply attached in such a short time.

I’ve missed everyone so much! It’s been a little over two weeks since I saw most of you, but it feels much longer. Yesterday was the first day I left the farm (other than to go for walks) and the first time I drove in 14 days. It’s humbling and edifying to depend upon others and to be confronted with mortality and lack of mobility. It can make you discouraged and depressed or be a spur to live more intentionally and learn the greatest wisdom: the wisdom of letting go.