BAR HARBOR, ME — Maine Seacoast Mission partnered with [Area Interfaith Outreach (AIO) Food] Pantry & Emergency Services to send a shipment of perishable and pantry items to Matinicus [Island].
Island Outreach Director/Chaplain Douglas Cornman
Happy Easter! I hope that you are healthy, safe, and managing as best as you possibly can this Easter. It is a strange and unsettling time. I thought that I would share the reflection that I am offering this morning to the residents of the Cranberry Isles, Isle au Haut, Frenchboro, Matinicus and Monhegan. I serve as chaplain to these islands and we’ll be meeting together this morning via Zoom to celebrate Easter.
My reflection is taken from the Gospel of John, chapter 20, verses 1-18.
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my God.
Mary Magdalene stood weeping outside the tomb. Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him, “teacher.”
As I have sat with and opened my heart, mind, and spirit to this passage of scripture, this is the piece of the story that has most resonated with me this Easter. Mary Magdalene and the moment she realizes that she is talking to Jesus.
Prior to COVID-19, I thought my Easter message would focus on the resurrection and what it might mean to live as Christians adhering to the hope that we are resurrection people. Over the past few weeks, as I have experienced the impact of COVID-19 and the fear, anxiety, and uncertainty surrounding it, my attention has been pulled from the concept of resurrection to this moment in the story, when Mary realizes that she’s not talking to a gardener, but to Jesus – the very person for whom she is mourning. The person she thought was taken from her.
As ironic as it may sound at Easter, I am finding the thought of resurrection to be too big – too conceptual. In this moment in time, during this pandemic, I am looking for signs of hope that are more tangible. Signs that I can hold in my hands or into which I can sink my metaphoric teeth. It’s this desire for tangible hope that drew my attention to Mary.
It seems to me that Mary could be any of us. Mary’s world was irrevocably changed with Christ’s crucifixion. I imagine that every aspect of her existence was touched by his death, the events that led to it, and the way it happened. I have no point of reference for a tragedy that is the magnitude of a crucifixion. But I have a gut feeling that parallels can be drawn between Mary’s experience and our experience with this pandemic. Like Mary, every aspect of our existence has been touched by this virus. We are frightened, confused, and weeping. We’ve experienced tremendous loss. We cannot envision a way forward and we have no assurance that our future will resemble our familiar past. We are weeping outside of the tomb; not quite knowing what to do.
Despite how it may feel, my intention for Easter Sunday is not to plummet you into the depths of despair. Instead, it’s to remind you that hope is present if we remain present and open ourselves to its possibility. Mary remained present. Unlike Simon Peter and the other disciple, Mary didn’t leave the tomb when she found it empty. She stayed and she was present. She was also present with her feelings – she wept. She didn’t push her emotions away or act as if she wasn’t sad. She didn’t put on a brave face. She wept. She was present.
I would like to imagine that she took a couple of deep cleansing breaths while she was standing there. However, that little insertion is most definitely me projecting my love of breathing into the story.
My point is, she stayed. Hope presented itself and Mary was available to see it. Hope wasn’t completely clear to her at first. The depth of her emotions caused her to mistake Jesus for a gardener, but clarity came because she remained present.
My Easter message to you is quite simple – be like Mary. In the midst of this horrific, frightening, anxiety producing, and uncertain pandemic, find the strength within to be present. You may experience a sense of presence through meditation, prayer, exercise, or art. You may experience it in the shower or when you take a long hot bath. Regardless of the method you choose, I promise you, if you pause and breathe, you can experience presence. And once there, your breathing will slow, your heart rate will decrease, clarity will emerge, and you may realize that hope is standing, right there, beside you.
Remember, especially today – Easter Sunday – that hope is omnipresent. It has been, it is, and it will be with us, always. Sometimes, we’re just too human to see it.
Amen.
Peace. Happy Easter!!
Douglas Cornman
Director of Island Outreach and Chaplain, Sunbeam V
L-R: Director Douglas Cornman, Director Sharon Daley, Steward Jillian
MDIslander
Mission works to keep islanders connected, safely
March 27, 2020 by Liz Graves on News, Waterfront
BAR HARBOR — In some ways, residents of unbridged island communities are ahead of the curve with the changes brought by the virus epidemic, since they already rely on remote and online connections for important services.
But in other ways, they’re especially vulnerable.
On March 13, the team of Maine Seacoast Mission staff that usually visits islands aboard the Sunbeam (or this year, the replacement Moonbeam while work is being done on the bigger boat) decided to suspend their regularly scheduled visits.
“Each island community has asked that people not come out to the islands (so they can) make the best use of what limited resources they have on the island,” said Doug Cornman, director of island outreach and chaplain. So we want to honor that … If people start to not feel well, this would decimate an island.”
A message from Douglas Cornman
Director of Island Outreach and Chaplain
MV Sunbeam V
Greetings, my friends. I pray that my letter finds you well.
These are indeed uncertain and frightening times, aren’t they? How we live and relate to one another is changing at an extraordinary pace, as is the information that we need to process and try to understand. Our communities have changed overnight, and we are frantically trying to adjust to a new normal. Given all that is happening to and around us, it is easy to succumb to our fears and anxieties. We find ourselves thinking and behaving in ways that are also new, unfamiliar, and, at times, quite surprising to us.
As we scramble to find balance in chaos, I offer that we make every effort to choose our path forward in love, instead of fear. Try not to give into feelings of anxiety and doubt. Instead, rely on your capacity to find the strength necessary to love in ways you never thought imaginable. Now is the time to choose love, not fear.
Trust me. I recognize how easy it is to offer words like these, especially in a time like this. However, I would not offer them, if I thought the suggestion impossible. To aid you in choosing a way forward in love, I offer this…now is also the time to pause and breathe. Breathe. Breathe.
Breathe with me, my friends. Stop reading for just a moment and breathe.
I am constantly astonished by how the world and my thoughts and feelings seem to take a step back each time I take a breath. The world and my fears no longer wrap so closely around me. Instead, my breath creates a space – a moment in time, if you will – where peace resides, and love is mine to choose.
For me, it is a divine space. A place where the world seems a little less muddled and my fears a little less frightening. A place where I am not alone, but connected to my family, friends, and neighbors in a spirit of mutual support and communal love.
So, I conclude my message with this recommendation and prayer – breathe and choose love.
You are not alone. Borrowing words from Kerry Maloney, Chaplain of Harvard Divinity School, “our collective isolation [provides] an opportunity for communal solitude.” Rest assured, we will discover our new normal and we will do it together, as we move forward in love.
Peace, health, and love,
Douglas
Director of Island Outreach and Chaplain
MV Sunbeam V
Matinicus Island. Photo by Sharon Daley, RN.
March 19, 2020
www.mainebiz.biz
Maine’s ‘unbridged’ islands hunker down
By Laurie Schreiber
Islands in Maine without bridges to the mainland are taking special steps to protect residents from the threat of coronavirus.
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“We’re taking our cues from our island communities,” [Mission President John] Zavodny said. “North Haven has taken the step of prohibiting non-island residents. Whether you agree with that decision or not, we think the spirit is a good one, of trying to self-isolate, trying to flatten the curve.”
The mission’s regularly scheduled island visits are suspended through March 31. However, the suspension doesn’t mean the mission is unavailable to island residents, he emphasized. His team is discussing ways to best support island residents during the pandemic and would like to hear their ideas.
L-R: Island Outreach Director Douglas Cornman, Island Health Director Sharon Daley.
BAR HARBOR, ME — With COVID-19 precautions in mind, the Sunbeam’s Island Services team (Douglas, Jillian, and Sharon) are suspending our regularly scheduled visits starting March 16th through March 31st. We will decide on how to best proceed as more information on the Coronavirus becomes available and we talk with islanders, island leadership, and island communities. We’ve made this decision to help flatten the curve and to keep islanders and their communities as safe and healthy as possible.
Island Services is available to you. Douglas and Sharon are discussing ways to best support you during this pandemic and would like to hear your ideas. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have immediate needs or have ideas of how we can support you and your communities.
As always, Sharon is available to work with you and your healthcare provider if you have any medical needs or concerns. Contact Douglas if you have pastoral needs and prayer requests. Contact either of us if you just need to hear a friendly voice and want to chat. We are here for you!
Contact information:
sdaley@seacoastmission.org or 207-542-9988
dcornman@seacoastmission.org or 207-479-0707