Due to COVID-19 restrictions, large gatherings and traditions have changed drastically. One type of traditional gathering that has probably affected most people is the birthday celebration.
In March, our family travelled to Ontario for my mom’s 75th birthday. We had arranged to have dinner at a restaurant and had booked a family photo session. Within hours of our arrival, we realized that the world was rapidly changing around us. There were to be no restaurant gatherings, no extended family visits, and no photographers could work with a group of 21 people.
Despite the changes in our plan, we had a lovely gathering with family members who had already been exposed to one another. Everyone converged to make a home-cooked dinner and cake. The children planned and performed a musical theatre “production” for our entertainment, and plenty of photos were captured on cellphones.
Like everyone else, our return home began a months-long period of seclusion in our home. During quarantine, we have celebrated several more birthdays, including those of two of our daughters. Festivities this year have been most creative, including video messages, snail mail, porch visits, gift drop-offs, and birthday “parades” complete with honking horns, balloons, posters, and baked treats prepared to distribute to passersby.
While birthday celebrations have certainly been different this year, they have not diminished or worsened. In fact, the extra effort made by people has made these moments special for reasons far beyond the obvious memory of having a “COVID birthday.” These “distanced” birthday celebrations are creating intimacy and connection in a time when fear of illness is keeping us apart, reminding us that we do not need to be together physically to be together in spirit.
As people under lockdown unite in the safety of distancing and in the comfort of relationships with people near and far, they are working to lift spirits and spread joy further than perhaps ever before.
Pondering the good that has arisen in COVID birthday celebrations, I cannot help but draw a few parallels to the feast of Pentecost. At Pentecost, Mary and the Apostles were in the Upper Room, hiding in fear – not of an illness or pandemic, but of persecution for being followers of Christ. United in faith and in worry, the Apostles stayed behind closed doors.
Yet they were found. In their seclusion, “with a noise like a driving wind” (Acts 2: 1- 11), the Holy Spirit descended upon Christ’s followers, giving them the gift of languages and the gifts of Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety and Fear of the Lord.
In his blog, “Seek First the Kingdom,” Cardinal Donald Wuerl stated, “The Apostles once huddled together timidly in the Upper Room, but the Spirit changed everything. From that room, the Apostles – and by extension all of us – actively became missionaries, emboldened to take the Good News to the ends of the earth. Like the early Church at the first Pentecost, we have been empowered as Spirit-filled evangelizers to go forth boldly and bear witness to Jesus to the world.”
COVID-19 has allowed us to experience the love and connection of distanced birthdays, but Pentecost – the Church’s birthday – has always commemorated the idea of spiritual connectedness. While churches slowly begin to open their doors again to celebrate this feast, we are united in faith, in love, in the Spirit.
Whether we see our families and friends online, through glass windows or arms’ lengths apart, the noise of honking horns and words of hope buoy our spirits and inspire us to share love with others.
Whether we continue to worship in the safety of our homes or begin to venture out into distanced public gatherings, stories of the noise of a driving wind and the power of the Holy Spirit call to mind that we are one.
Archbishop J. Michael Miller reminded attendants at last fall’s Upper Room Conference in Vancouver that “the Apostles didn’t stay in the upper room” but rather “fear and timidity were transformed into courage and zeal” as they went forward to spread the Good News.
May we all be filled with gifts of the Holy Spirit as we seek to spread love, joy, and faith in this time of uncertainty and change. Happy COVID Birthday, Church!