Groceries were delivered today, and it was an event. Unboxing and sterilizing fifty-three packages was more complicated than expected, but it was necessary. After nearly two hours, the food is clean and stored, and we are cleaned and drained. With laughter, my wife said it best, “If I thought I didn’t like grocery shopping before, well there’s this.”
Adapting to the current reality is deeply unsettling. Routines that bring comfort and stability are interrupted or lost. We face unprecedented decisions and actions, and each of us is doing the best that we can. We all want our old routines back to create some sense of normalcy. Unfortunately, that is not the plan for a while longer.
Members of our church family are beginning to reach out to us asking about Holy Week. Will we have palms? How do we worship on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday? What do we do to help our Sunday School children? What about Easter? The last question pricks my heart. In every case I want to say, “Sure, things can be fairly normal. These significant points on our calendar can be experienced in familiar ways.” I want to say that, but I can’t. It’s not safe to worship as usual, and I am working to create materials for families to worship in their homes.
Personally, all of this makes me aware of how many things we take for granted. Church services that are easy to skip in our busy lives, now become deeply desired moments together. The list is long: a cup of coffee with a friend, a dinner out, meals with extended family, even normal grocery shopping. The thousand facets of our lives are magnified in this moment. The value of relationships, contact, and community highlighted in powerful ways. The normal we often try to avoid is now a goal.
Of course, most of us realize that everything will not be the same when the pandemic is over, but our lives will regain much of their normalcy. Somehow, the knowledge that there is an end to what we are facing makes it easier to bear. It gives us hope, and hope does not disappoint us.
I don’t want to get preachy, though that is what preachers do, but this is a moment the Spirit can use to broaden our vision. After all I’ve already said, we need to know that there are people, made in the image of God and deeply loved, who are struggling to survive. Many of them were facing that struggle before the pandemic, and hope is a distant idea, if it is a thought at all. Imagine what would happen if God used this season of dis-ease to help us become aware of our precious neighbors who remain unseen. What would happen if our temporary discomfort made us recognize the permanent discomfort of others?
My comments are not about guilt, nor are they an attempt to minimize our experience, fear, and frustration. I do wonder, however, if we will allow God to give us revelation in this season. Will we remain open and teachable in the face of our challenges? God is always speaking. God is always giving fresh vision. God is always stoking the fires of faith to call us out in to new places and new ways of loving our neighbors and sharing the love of Christ.
If we will allow God to use this time to shape us and prepare us, then God can send us into the world in new ways. God can redeem the time, not merely by fixing things, but by healing us, allowing us to see the world as God sees it. So, as we face our inconveniences, our obstacles, and even our fears, may we keep our spirits open to the teaching of the One who goes before us, walks with us, and watches over us from behind. That which is meant for evil, God will use for good!
