Monday, March 23, 2020
The Rev. Anne Williamson
The Collect
O Lord our God, in your holy Sacraments you have given us a foretaste of the good things of your kingdom: Direct us, we pray, in the way that leads to eternal life, that we may come to appear before you in that place of light where you dwell for ever with your saints; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Reading
Isaiah 65:17-25
I am about to create new heavens and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
and its people as a delight.
I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
or the cry of distress.
No more shall there be in it
an infant that lives but a few days,
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
They shall not labor in vain,
or bear children for calamity
for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord--
and their descendants as well.
Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear.
The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
but the serpent-- its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.
Reflection
‘I am about to create new heavens and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.’
It is hard to imagine life returning to exactly the way it was a year ago, a month ago or even a week ago. And of course, we can never truly relive the past any more than we can predict the future. But there is a sense in this tumultuous time that life will be different going forward. Whatever and whenever there is a new normal, it will be different from last year or last month or even last week. It is hard to imagine that God’s words to the people of Israel would be a comfort, ‘the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind’ and yet they were a comfort because they promised that there would be life after exile and there was. It did not look the same, and there would be those who looked back rather than forward. But for me, the words of God to the people of Israel hold promise for us in this moment - God’s ability and desire to create never ceases and the moment we find ourselves in could be the beginning of a new way of thinking, a new way of being. There are curious things happening as we find ourselves living very differently. There may not actually be dolphins swimming in the canals of Venice, but the water there and elsewhere in the world seems clearer; the murky skies in places where industrial pollution keep them grey and dirty are clearing as well. Without the noise of cars and factories people can hear the birds sing. But what of our way of being? How we have understood the world, how people have made their way in the world...how could it be different? I don’t know, but I believe that if the followers of Jesus heed St. Paul’s call (first directed to the Christians of Ephesus) to live as children of light, then the fruit of our lives will be that which is good and right and true. And we will be part of the new creation of our world that might redeem this time.
Kitty O’Meara is a retired teacher and palliative care chaplain. Her vision of the of what could be, of a new creation born out of this pandemic, resonates with me as I hope and pray for the world in which my granddaughter will grow up.
‘And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. Some met their shadows. And the people began to think differently.
And the people healed. And, in the absence of people living in ignorant, dangerous, mindless, and heartless ways, the earth began to heal. And when the danger passed, and the people joined together again, they grieved their losses, and made new choices, and dreamed new images, and created new ways to live and heal the earth fully, as they had been healed.’
O’Meara writes that ‘staying home’ can be an opportunity for re-creation but also a place for meeting our shadows... not everyone has a home to stay in, and not all homes are easy places to stay for lengthy periods of time. I pray that there might be blessing and hope for re-creation in and through this tumultuous time, for all peoples, in all circumstances, for we are all God’s children, made in God’s image and beloved of God.
Peace my friends,
Anne