“May You Live in
Interesting Times”
Many of you have heard the expression, “May you live in interesting times.” It’s a phrase often used today to reference times of trouble, uncertainty, upheaval, and strife. Well, guess what?! Here we are… living in interesting times!
We are living in times that seem profoundly fast-moving and chaotic as things drastically change, draw to a close, and as we wait to see what rises up next. There is a higher level of fear and anxiety in the air, as things around us seem to be unraveling and we’re unsure about what’s next. We’re in that place of “unknowing” – of not knowing where things are going, of not knowing how to respond, of not knowing how to bring order and calm back into our lives. This is true in the life of our Church and in the life of our nation.
In times like these, we often long for the “good ole days.” We want things to return to the way they were. But they usually don’t. After we adjust a bit, they (we) just eventually go on to a new way of being that will someday be “the good ole days” again when interesting times reappear. That is our process: endings create longing and confusion. Confusion builds into chaos. Chaos leads to new freedoms and creative expression. And with creativity comes new beginnings. It is a bit painful and scary, however.
Now, to be clear, sometimes chaos emerges out of endings that are a natural phenomenon of change. What’s happening in the decline of our denomination and congregation would fit into that category. At other times, a few powerful people create chaos to keep the majority of people off-balance and in conflict with each other, as a way of moving their “agenda of change” forward. This is what is happening in our nation today.
In both exists God, but in very different ways. The best way to describe it is that God is not so much in the “change” as in the “transition.” Transition is where all the emotional content brought about by change and chaos is dealt with. God is in the midst of the storm, offering calm – much like Jesus in the boat with the disciples in the storm on the Sea of Galilee. At Trinity, God is inviting us into supportive relationships with one another as we come to grips with what’s ending, what’s “clear as mud” in the chaos, and as God leads us to what’s next.
But, God is also in the chaos of our nation at this time – and, not in a necessarily calming way. As a few create chaos in the way America does things, God is reminding us that ALL people are beloved by God. And God is calling us to make sure ALL people know it. God is calling us to action on behalf of those who have lost their voice, their stability, their security, their safety. God is calling us to stand with the poor, the hungry, the outcast, the foreigner, and anyone else being scapegoated and “erased” by the few powerful people creating chaos on a national (or any) level today. It seems that our times are not much different than Jesus’ times – when he stood against those in power, and with and for ALL God’s beloved. Now Jesus calls us, each in our own way, to do the same today.
Let’s remember that God created the universe out of nothing. God can certainly handle a little chaos on our behalf and guide us through to the other side, for God is always with us.
In God’s Love and Care,
Pastor Ned