You cried when I went to the hospital

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I come from a family of 4 children. The youngest in the family, my sister Jan, contracted spinal meningitis when she was 4 years old. I was 9, my brothers 11 and 7. I don't remember what words Mom used when she told the 3 of us that our sister had gone to the hospital, but she must have gotten the message across that Jan was in a scary, dangerous situation. We all cried.

Thankfully Jan recovered and came home. We soon realized that our mother had told her how we reacted when we heard the news of her sickness. Any time one of us did something that hurt little 4-year-old Jan's feelings she would say, "You cried when I went to the hospital." It became a common refrain.

That refrain amused us even then, and it's a funny family story now. This story and those words have come to my mind during this season of "coronatide," as I have heard it called. When one of us kids did something my sister felt was unkind or hurtful, her recitation "You cried when I went to the hospital" was reassuring to her. It reminded her -- and us -- that we loved and cared about her. When we acted in a way that seemed contrary to that love and care, it gave her comfort to remember we did love her, in spite of what we might be doing at that moment.

This story has come to my mind now because it illustrates my hope and prayer about how we as a church family will act when we return to worship together. We are human. We are going to mess up. We are going to say and do hurtful things. We are going to dislike actions and words that others do and say, and others are going to dislike actions and words that we do and say.

When we feel those feelings of hurt or offense or anger, my prayer is that we remember the way we showed up for each other during this time. Like my sister would reassure herself by saying "You cried when I went to the hospital," we can be assured, too, that we love and care for each other.

When we act like the flawed human beings we are, when we hurt each other, make each other angry, annoy each other, offend each other, we can recite our version of "You cried when I went to the hospital."

• "You called me every week."
• "You brought homemade soup to me."
• "You got groceries for me."
• "You dropped off a mask for me."
• "You delivered a special treat to my house."
• "You recorded greetings to bless me."
• "You made a video of your sermon every week for me."
• "You 'snail-mailed' me the printed sermon and Church Connection every week because I have no computer."
• "You sent me encouraging cards."
• "You prayed for me."

I am sure there are other acts of love and kindness we are doing for each other.

Our Father in Heaven, may we forgive each other for our unthinking, unintended hurtful acts as we remember our shared love for each other and our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.