Romans 8:28

I feel like this is where we are. It has felt, for the last week, like it’s the end of the world as we know it. (ear worm alert)
Empty streets, empty restaurants, empty malls, empty parking lots, empty classrooms. There is no cultural reference for this – there is only this sense that we can’t get our balance.

Perhaps this lent, like none other, we have a sense of what the disciples felt like on that Good Friday through Easter Sunday. Life, the way they knew it, was gone. The One they identified as the Messiah was GONE. DEAD. BURIED in a tomb. What would happen now? Where was this kingdom that He spoke about?

But then, the stone was rolled away and He who once was dead was again walking among them. Death would forever look different! Death would never again have the last say. Resurrection was the new normal, not simply for that day 2000 years ago, but is the new normal for all time.

So – perhaps we have some new eyes with which to see this Resurrection reality in our environment. Skies and waters once murky and cloudy with pollution are clearing up. What once seemed impossible, the reality of climate change is slowing simply because people are staying home.

Now, I know that this is not the only story. Many of you are staying home because you have lost your job. Many of you would much rather be at your job than stuck at home. I get it. But it cannot be denied that there is an unexpected consequence of our reduced activity – an unexpected return of life where once there was death.

May we have eyes to see past the cocoons and towards the butterflies that come our way.

Let us pray,
Gracious God, give us eyes to see the life that sprouts all around us, especially when chaos and crisis abounds. Help us to share that life – and your love –with everyone we meet. No exceptions. Amen