Loading...Five days. Five months. Five years. Fifty years. Five hundred years.
Throughout this pandemic, I’ve been thinking of time.
Am I wasting it?
How can I use it well?
It goes slowly, and yet, very fast —Time Warp!
How long HAS it been?!?
Five days ago (well, really six), my dad moved to memory care because of Alzheimers’ disease.
One of the saddest effects of this disease is the complete loss of time and context:
- ”have I eaten breakfast yet today?” Can’t remember.
- ”What year is it? How old am I?”
- and thinking that the people around you are people from your younger years since those memories stick around longer.
Five months ago (well, really five months and a week or so),
we entered into a strange pandemic time:
- students and teachers had to presto-quick-chango figure out how to do school online and from home;
- daily and weekly changes in information about best practices for protecting ourselves from infection AND from spreading infection;
- crashing of economies around the world, across our country, and in our own households;
- this new-to-most-of-us phrase “social distancing”; and
- ZOOM, which, to a child of the 70s and 80s, YES, does look the opening to The Muppet Show.
Fifty years ago (well, really fifty six),
The Civil Rights Act was signed into law by President Johnson.
Yet, this country stayed in the throes
of the Civil Rights Movement which had started
many years before and was marked by
the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision,
the Montgomery Bus Boycott (10 years!),
the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and has continued even beyond to the Selma march,
and the fierce work of Shirley Chisholm, John Lewis, and others.
We’re still in it. Because, despite the laws,
the reality for most people of color in this country
is discrimination and racism.
Five hundred years ago (well, really, 401),
the first enslaved Africans were brought to North America
and the overrunning of Native and Indigenous people
already living here continued in earnest.
Personal, community, national, global —
throughout the ages,
We humans have been faced with challenges and suffering.
There is no doubt of that.
And, while we know that — that we’re not the first, and that others may have had it worse, blah, blah, blah —
that doesn’t change the fact that it can be hard.
Very hard.
What to do, what to do.....?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The disciples, this inner group of twelve, especially
were with Jesus for in-depth, on-the-job training.
They saw him interact with people who had all kinds of power in society,
and those who had none.
They saw him give healing to people who needed it —
whether the person asked for it, or family/friends.
They ate food that he miraculously provided for thousands.
They heard him tell enigmatic stories and thought provoking stories.
They heard him give really difficult instructions,
e.g. “carry your cross”, “love your enemies”. Baffling!
They experienced welcome, grace, love, and hope
in his presence, through his words, and by his touch.
I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
before the gods I sing your praise;
I bow down towards your holy temple
and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness;
for you have exalted your name and your word
above everything.
On the day I called, you answered me,
you increased my strength of soul.All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord,
for they have heard the words of your mouth.
They shall sing of the ways of the Lord,
for great is the glory of the Lord.
For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly;
but the haughty he perceives from far away.Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies;
you stretch out your hand,
and your right hand delivers me.
The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O Lord, endures for ever.
Do not forsake the work of your hands.
O God, with all your faithful followers of every age, we praise you, the rock of our life. Be our strong foundation and form us into the body of your Son, that we may gladly minister to all the world, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen
