Sunday, May 3, 2020 “There IS abundance!”
This is the first of my Sunday reflections for this hiatus created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
My plan is to start with a short scripture passage, and then reflect on it in a way that I hope will be stimulating or challenging or nourishing…whatever! You are invited to reflect also, and then if you wish, to comment on what you have read. I will try to respond to your comments. (so new at this – please bear with me!)
The Scripture: Acts 2:42-47 (NRSV)
They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the good will of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
The Reflection:
In “normal” times, this passage would make many of us uncomfortable, living as we do in a capitalist society where our individual needs and wants, as well as our goals and aspirations, seem often to far outweigh our concerns about the common or collective good.
But we are not living thru “normal” times, are we? As I look around our community today, I am struck by how very deeply the teachings of Christ have actually permeated our thinking. In all my years (73!) I have never seen or heard such an outpouring of caring for all our neighbours: the elderly, the marginalized, the unemployed, the essential workers – especially those in health care – not to mention our own dear friends and families! People are making meals for each other, delivering food and groceries to those who are in isolation, finding a myriad of ways to connect on line, by phone, mail, smiles and friendly greetings. We offer to help each other to get needed items from Powell River, share plants, seeds, and ideas, and relate to one another in as many ways as we can think of.
Even tho our economy is in the toilet, our jobs are lost, our businesses fail, and we wonder how we will pay the mortgage or the rent, there is still an atmosphere of warmth and goodwill that I feel all around us.
We can’t gather like the apostle’s did – our churches and synagogues are closed and we have to stay six feet apart – but we do pray for each other, send each other good wishes, and seem to be enjoying getting “back to basics”. We are cooking from scratch and sharing what we cook, we are gardening, and some of us are cleaning our homes way more than we used to! We are walking in, and appreciating nature on this beautiful island in ways that perhaps before we just couldn’t seem to find time for.
I think of it as a time of rest, a long pause in the everyday busyness of our lives. There is time now to reflect on what is really important in life – what will really bring us peace and happiness…maybe we have pushed the “reset” button!
I found this quotation on the e-journal “Kosmos” by Sonya Renee Taylor:
We will not go back to normal. Normal never was. Our pre-coronal existence was not normal other than we normalized greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate and lack. We should not long to return, my friends. We are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment. One that fits all of humanity and nature.
I don’t know about you, but several of those words seem to apply to me. There is something wrong when we are feeling exhausted, depleted, angry, depressed and as if there is never enough. When we cannot find peace and contentment in our relationships, our work, and our daily lives then perhaps we need to re-think the way we live in the world.
We have been given an opportunity, folks, a golden, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do things differently. Coming out of this pandemic let us remember the joy of sharing the small things, a smile, a wave, a plate of cookies, a few seedlings for the garden. We have the power within us to resist the necessity to win, to have more, to be better than. Instead, we could celebrate the beauty of every child of the Creator who crosses our path, respect the natural world that feeds and sustains us here, and share what we have as we understand that when we do that, there is enough for all, and all will have enough.
This is the first of my Sunday reflections for this hiatus created in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
My plan is to start with a short scripture passage, and then reflect on it in a way that I hope will be stimulating or challenging or nourishing…whatever! You are invited to reflect also, and then if you wish, to comment on what you have read. I will try to respond to your comments. (so new at this – please bear with me!)
The Scripture: Acts 2:42-47 (NRSV)
They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the good will of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
The Reflection:
In “normal” times, this passage would make many of us uncomfortable, living as we do in a capitalist society where our individual needs and wants, as well as our goals and aspirations, seem often to far outweigh our concerns about the common or collective good.
But we are not living thru “normal” times, are we? As I look around our community today, I am struck by how very deeply the teachings of Christ have actually permeated our thinking. In all my years (73!) I have never seen or heard such an outpouring of caring for all our neighbours: the elderly, the marginalized, the unemployed, the essential workers – especially those in health care – not to mention our own dear friends and families! People are making meals for each other, delivering food and groceries to those who are in isolation, finding a myriad of ways to connect on line, by phone, mail, smiles and friendly greetings. We offer to help each other to get needed items from Powell River, share plants, seeds, and ideas, and relate to one another in as many ways as we can think of.
Even tho our economy is in the toilet, our jobs are lost, our businesses fail, and we wonder how we will pay the mortgage or the rent, there is still an atmosphere of warmth and goodwill that I feel all around us.
We can’t gather like the apostle’s did – our churches and synagogues are closed and we have to stay six feet apart – but we do pray for each other, send each other good wishes, and seem to be enjoying getting “back to basics”. We are cooking from scratch and sharing what we cook, we are gardening, and some of us are cleaning our homes way more than we used to! We are walking in, and appreciating nature on this beautiful island in ways that perhaps before we just couldn’t seem to find time for.
I think of it as a time of rest, a long pause in the everyday busyness of our lives. There is time now to reflect on what is really important in life – what will really bring us peace and happiness…maybe we have pushed the “reset” button!
I found this quotation on the e-journal “Kosmos” by Sonya Renee Taylor:
We will not go back to normal. Normal never was. Our pre-coronal existence was not normal other than we normalized greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate and lack. We should not long to return, my friends. We are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment. One that fits all of humanity and nature.
I don’t know about you, but several of those words seem to apply to me. There is something wrong when we are feeling exhausted, depleted, angry, depressed and as if there is never enough. When we cannot find peace and contentment in our relationships, our work, and our daily lives then perhaps we need to re-think the way we live in the world.
We have been given an opportunity, folks, a golden, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to do things differently. Coming out of this pandemic let us remember the joy of sharing the small things, a smile, a wave, a plate of cookies, a few seedlings for the garden. We have the power within us to resist the necessity to win, to have more, to be better than. Instead, we could celebrate the beauty of every child of the Creator who crosses our path, respect the natural world that feeds and sustains us here, and share what we have as we understand that when we do that, there is enough for all, and all will have enough.
