Today I was asked by a friend to share my thoughts on Easter in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic for a conference-wide video. As it turns out, I'm not so great at 10-20 second sound bites. I really need 30-60 seconds. So I had to scrap my Albus Dumbledore quote for the video, and I decided to blog about it instead.
One of my very favorite Harry Potter scenes is the one in which Albus Dumbledore informs Harry, "After all, to the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure." This pandemic reminds me so much of 9/11 in the sense that life as we knew it before this pandemic has ceased to exist. Our pre-Covid 19 lives are dead--many of us may feel as though we are in a holding pattern--in purgatory, if you will--waiting for the next life, our post-Covid 19 life to fully begin when our shelter in place/quarantine orders are lifted.
Easter, of course, would be Christ's next great adventure. He died, descended into Hell, and on the third day, was resurrected appearing to Mary Magdalene outside the tomb and then later appearing to the disciples in the Upper Room. I really can't think of a greater adventure than Christ's resurrection! And that next great adventure led Jesus's followers into an entirely new way of being, just as we today are being led into an entirely new way of being: many of us quarantined from the lives we knew. We find ourselves managing new ways of being in our families, in our work lives, as the church, few areas of life are unscathed.
It is normal and healthy to grieve the old ways of being that we have lost. I miss talking with my folks before and after worship on Sunday mornings, and their hugs and handshakes. I miss hearing the bells ring signaling the start of worship and the first notes of the organ beginning, the lingering smell of smoke when the acolytes snuff out the candles at the end of worship, smiling at and making eye contact with my folks as I bless them during the benediction. I miss what was becoming a weekly dinner with friends, walking my dog in the park with my favorite walking buddy, going to Target for Diet Coke, staying in Fulton way too late talking to my advisees...all the little things that are currently on hold during this pandemic.
And yet, while I grieve for the old ways of being, I find myself excited about these new ways of being: connecting virtually over Zoom for worship with parishioners, sending and receiving happy snail mail, funny group messages with those same advisees, walks with Brene Brown's podcast for company. I find myself wondering how I will carry this new virtual connectedness (and my new video production skills) forward into my post-Covid 19 life. Just as I couldn't fathom what airline travel would look like in the future while I sat in my bedroom and watched the Twin Towers crumble on that sunny September morning 19 years ago, I cannot imagine what my life will look like on the other side of this. But I can choose to think of that new normal and plan for that new normal to be my next great adventure!
One of my very favorite Harry Potter scenes is the one in which Albus Dumbledore informs Harry, "After all, to the well organized mind, death is but the next great adventure." This pandemic reminds me so much of 9/11 in the sense that life as we knew it before this pandemic has ceased to exist. Our pre-Covid 19 lives are dead--many of us may feel as though we are in a holding pattern--in purgatory, if you will--waiting for the next life, our post-Covid 19 life to fully begin when our shelter in place/quarantine orders are lifted.
Easter, of course, would be Christ's next great adventure. He died, descended into Hell, and on the third day, was resurrected appearing to Mary Magdalene outside the tomb and then later appearing to the disciples in the Upper Room. I really can't think of a greater adventure than Christ's resurrection! And that next great adventure led Jesus's followers into an entirely new way of being, just as we today are being led into an entirely new way of being: many of us quarantined from the lives we knew. We find ourselves managing new ways of being in our families, in our work lives, as the church, few areas of life are unscathed.
It is normal and healthy to grieve the old ways of being that we have lost. I miss talking with my folks before and after worship on Sunday mornings, and their hugs and handshakes. I miss hearing the bells ring signaling the start of worship and the first notes of the organ beginning, the lingering smell of smoke when the acolytes snuff out the candles at the end of worship, smiling at and making eye contact with my folks as I bless them during the benediction. I miss what was becoming a weekly dinner with friends, walking my dog in the park with my favorite walking buddy, going to Target for Diet Coke, staying in Fulton way too late talking to my advisees...all the little things that are currently on hold during this pandemic.
And yet, while I grieve for the old ways of being, I find myself excited about these new ways of being: connecting virtually over Zoom for worship with parishioners, sending and receiving happy snail mail, funny group messages with those same advisees, walks with Brene Brown's podcast for company. I find myself wondering how I will carry this new virtual connectedness (and my new video production skills) forward into my post-Covid 19 life. Just as I couldn't fathom what airline travel would look like in the future while I sat in my bedroom and watched the Twin Towers crumble on that sunny September morning 19 years ago, I cannot imagine what my life will look like on the other side of this. But I can choose to think of that new normal and plan for that new normal to be my next great adventure!
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