First Baptist Church of Herndon

Signs of Life - Community

Linda Soller | Aug 03, 2020

The signs had evolved, “closed due to COVID-19”. A few weeks later a sign appears – “Delivery Available.” Shortly after that we saw – “Delivery and Curbside Pickup Available”. Now the signs in many places have added “Inside Dining Available.” Are things back to normal? No, they are not. Normal is not what these signs are telling us, these signs are saying something else. They are telling us these places of business are part of our community, still. They are asking the community to be aware and to support them, and if we don’t read these signs our community will eventually suffer.

I saw all of these signs on a diner not far from my home. We would pass it as we drove to do our grocery shopping during the special “senior adult” shopping times. The diner parking lot started out empty, then gradually a few more cars appeared. The signs seemed to me as a call for the community to do two things. First, they wanted us to know they were trying to stay in business. It isn’t easy to quickly adjust your rules and procedures to do business differently. But that was just what they were doing. Secondly, more subliminally, the message was, we are trying to serve you, but you have to show up. How we could show up was also evolving.

Throughout the Bible God addresses the sense of community. A church is a community of believers. Jesus and His disciples spoke to communities, called them to step up, to be strong, to have faith, and to support one another. Sure, the diner wanted business, otherwise they would not exist. The jobs they supplied would go away, the food they prepared would no longer be needed and farmers would be impacted.  The wave of negative impact would begin to roll along if the community didn’t see the signs. One day the signs may say “back to normal, thank you!” Until that time must read the signs of our community in need and be there.

What does your sign of life say?

Have a great week! :o) Linda