Dec. 8, 2022
These covid years have been strange. It was like we were going down the highway and then in March of 2020 there was an accident. The highway had to be closed and we were directed down an exit ramp onto a detour. The way was not clearly marked. And we kind of wandered off all over the place.
Now it seems like the highway is open again; maybe even all the lanes. And the on ramp is open. But we don’t quite seem to be finding the way back to the way things were.
Maybe that is good. Maybe we don’t want to be going back to how things were. Maybe being derailed, being on lock down, being quarantined, being limited and confined, has taught us to see things in a different way. Maybe we have greater appreciation for some things. Maybe we have discovered that we are happier without some things that we thought were important.
So, maybe instead of trying to find the on ramp back to life as we knew it, maybe we can be looking for something different. Something more reflective of what we have come to know during these years of covid.
I know that some people in our congregation have found that the church is more important to them and they are much more connected and involved at church now than they were.
Maybe we are not finding our way back to ‘normal’ because we don’t really want to go there. Maybe we want to be part of a different reality, a different future, a different kind of life.
Just like a new baby drastically changes the life of a family, we can think about the coming of Christ as an opening for transition and transformation in our lives. This is a season to welcome Christ and to let Christ lead us further into the reality of Love.
Prayer
In these dark, quiet days of Advent, may we open ourselves to being led in new directions. Amen.
Lakewood United Church of Christ 