Tonight we have been in lockdown for three weeks. It is hard to comprehend those pre lockdown days –days when we had no comprehension of what this life would look like. It is as if we have all been given a new way of seeing the world. In fighting loss of life and loss of livelihood, our world has dramatically changed right through from the personal level to the international. Now we are beginning to comprehend another way of living –the waiting room stage as we wait to see if what has been done has worked. Waiting to see if we then move back to level 4 or on to level 2. We remain in our bubble although it can be extended in a small way. We move from essential operations only to safe operations only. That means for us at KPC, we are looking to continue in our current method. At level 3, we will continue to not have gathered services of worship or other gatherings such as mainly music. We now know we will be able to lead funeral services at level 3, but only with up to ten people present.
Getting used to this new way of seeing our world takes time. But as I reflect on this, I see a similarity with the process after making a decision to follow Jesus. We are given this new way to see our own personal lives –the way we live our day to day life, and the way we see the world –created and loved by God, and needing our love too. And just as we see a range of responses in our community to level 4 lockdown, new Christians also respond in different ways to this new way of being. Some aspects of this new way of living are easier than others, depending on personality and living environment. There is always a choice not to see the world in this new way, but as we live in this new way for a longer time, it becomes more difficult to ignore. Having walked this way of following Jesus for so many decades, this vision has become my dominant way of being, my more “natural” reaction, just as we now “naturally” ensure a 2m distance from those outside our bubble. We learn what then becomes normal. My prayer is that we continue to learn what following Jesus means, so our “normal” will most often be the way of love.
