World Without End

Day 43.  Seven weeks ago on Monday, March 16, the stay-at-home order became effective (in Indiana) and all non-essential public spots were closed.  The previous day FCC (First Christian Church, Kokomo, Indiana) had just completed our first Facebook LIVE service which I watched that afternoon with my computer on its side.  Lunch on Sunday was at an immediate new favorite, Cortona in Fortville, and was our (Elizabeth and I) last meal out before distancing.

There is a pressing urge from many interests - individuals, groups and institutions - to "open up" and return the economy and our way of life towards "normal."  I celebrate that desire for normalcy!  Though I do so with one question and one statement.  Question: What was/is/will be normal?  Statement: If pre-pandemic was "normal" then it was that "normal" that got us into this horror in so many and varied ways.  I agree wholeheartedly with the patriarch of the Addams Family, Charles Addams, who said, "Normal is an illusion.  What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly."

And so, to avoid a bit of despair, to find some hope for a "new normal" - and to simply learn from the early saints - I turn to scripture and find some peace in a line from this coming Sunday's scripture reading:  Acts 2:46 - Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people."

..as it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen