Our everyday hustle and bustle of taking our kids to school, sports, scouts, and piano lessons, which can sometimes be all in one day, or running from our jobs to the gym and then the grocery store to quickly pick up something for dinner before we have to run off for a meeting or other commitment has come to an abrupt halt. At first, it might seem like a curse or a hardship but maybe not. What if we do like Lynn Ungar suggests and look at it differently? What if we look at this time as a Sabbath?
Pandemic
What if you thought of it
as the Jews consider the Sabbath—
the most sacred of times?
Cease from travel.
Cease from buying and selling.
Give up, just for now,
on trying to make the world
different than it is.
Sing. Pray. Touch only those
to whom you commit your life.
Center down.
And when your body has become still,
reach out with your heart.
Know that we are connected
in ways that are terrifying and beautiful.
(You could hardly deny it now.)
Know that our lives
are in one another’s hands.
(Surely, that has come clear.)
Do not reach out your hands.
Reach out your heart.
Reach out your words.
Reach out all the tendrils
of compassion that move, invisibly,
where we cannot touch.
Promise this world your love–
for better or for worse,
in sickness and in health,
so long as we all shall live.
Lynn Ungar
What if we use this time to be still and to listen to what God is saying to us? What if we use this time to sit and observe where God is working in our lives and in the world? What if we use this time to become reconnected with ourselves and the gifts that God has given us so that when it is time to go out into the world again we will be able to reach out in renewed love to others?
My hope for us is that we can slow down and be still during this time of unknowns, fears and anxiety so that we can hear God’s calming voice and lean on God who is always with us.
Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in God. God alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken. Psalm 62:5-6
Loving God, please be with us during this time of uncertainty. Help us to see this time away from our busy schedules and social lives as an opportunity to reflect and grow rather than a burden to bear. Help us to be still so that we can reconnect with you and ourselves. We give thanks for your never-ending strength for us to draw from. May we leave this time of unknowns renewed so that we can be the tendrils of compassion for your people. Amen.
Marty