Let's Get Ready for "Normal" Now: a homily for the Third Sunday of Easter

Psalm 116.1-4, 12-19

Acts 2.14a, 36-41

1 Peter 1.17-23

Luke 24.13-35

Let’s Get Ready for Normal Now

If my math is right, it’s been seven weeks since we last gathered together; seven weeks of social distancing and isolation; seven weeks of having to learn a number of new habits, patterns of life, and skills, including how to mute and unmute your Zoom conversation!

For some it has been seven weeks of watching your industry or profession shrivel or disintegrate; perhaps it has been seven weeks of wondering if you are ever going to get those opportunities or resources back; but maybe it has been seven weeks of much needed solitude; seven weeks of closeness to God that you haven’t enjoyed in a long time; maybe it has been seven weeks in which you have been able to have some margin in your life to  learn a new skill or acquire some new knowledge; seven weeks when you’ve been able to exercise like you’ve always wanted; or maybe it has been seven weeks of eating like your preparing for hibernation; or both! Or perhaps it's been seven weeks of discovering things about yourself that you didn’t know--good and/or bad; seven weeks of rationing toilet paper with your family; seven weeks of new opportunities that you feel like you squandered, or seven weeks of taking advantage of this time to be with family and friends in ways you haven’t in a long time. Or maybe it has been the busiest, hardest, most stressful seven weeks of your life--work never ends. For most of us, it has been seven weeks of lament, frustration, irritation, fear, rest, enjoyment, gratitude, anxiety, disappointment, despair, sadness, and delight all mixed into one!

That’s what makes this strange time a kind of intense microcosm of life as we have always known it; our COVID-19 time is a mixture of good, bad, sad, joyous, confusing, stressful, and infuriating; it is a mixture of opportunity and opportunity lost; it is a mixture of temptation and provision. And that can be exhausting and energizing, discouraging and edifying all at once!

This strange time will end; soon we will be “back to normal”. Now is the time to think about what parts of “normal” we want to get back to. Now is the time to reflect upon what we have learned from these seven weeks--good and bad--about ourselves, about the course of our lives, about the way we invest our time, about what we say matters most to us, and what we show matters most to us with our affections and our actions. Now is the time to prepare for a coming time of change. Because soon we will be thrust back into the rushing waters of “normal”. How do you want to live? 

Our texts for this Third Sunday in Easter, each in their own way, bring us to a time of revelation and decision, a time of change, a new “normal” that we are invited to be a part of. And in each lesson, we are reminded that it is the resurrection that informs and enlivens our adventure into a new normal. 

In 1 Peter, for example, we are reminded that we were once slaves--slaves of our own sinful desires, slaves of the futile life we have inherited from Adam’s family. We are reminded that we don’t have to live this way any longer because we have been redeemed, liberated from our Egypts by the Passover Lamb, Jesus (1 Pet 1.17-19). His resurrection not only tells us that the Father accepted Jesus’ death as a sacrifice of atonement, but it also tells us that we are now on a journey, we have left our life of slavery and are now sojourners (or exiles) journeying towards an inheritance that will not corrupt. And so, we are invited to gird up our loins, and join the journey--a journey that involves saying no to all the gods that we once gave allegiance to, and saying yes to the one true God, who is made known only through Jesus. The resurrection tells us that this way to be reconciled to God has been made known to us, for our sake, in this “now time” (1 Pet 1.20). We don’t have to wonder or guess how we might please God and follow in His ways. 

In our Acts 2 reading, Peter urges us to “save ourselves from this crooked generation”, this way of life that we have inherited, that has been handed to us, where it is “normal” to rebel against God, “normal” to think that we are the masters of our own destinies, “normal” to look to our desires and wants as reliable guides. In this first sermon of the newborn church, Peter reminds us of the most foundational truths of this new normal life: Jesus is Lord--and we are not. For this reason, our first and fitting response is repentance--changing our minds about who is in charge, changing our minds about what the good life is, and re-orienting ourselves to the will of the Lord. We no longer think of God as a means to our end;  we no longer treat God as a genie that exists to fulfill our wishes, someone to be used for our own agenda; instead we pray, as Jesus taught us:  “Your kingdom come; your will be done”. 

But our lessons also point us to community. In both 1 Peter and Acts, we learn that to say yes to Jesus as Lord is to say yes to others who say yes to Jesus as Lord. Baptism, we must remember,  is a corporate confession; it is you saying yes to God, but also saying yes to a community. It is the community saying you belong to us; and you saying to that community, I belong to you. When the crowds, having learned that the resurrection vindicated Jesus as the Lord and Christ of all, they asked “what should we do?”. Peter answered, “repent and be baptized”.  Change your mind about who is Lord, and join His people. Belong. This is the sign that we have repented. Peter, in his first letter, explains what it looks like to be born again of an imperishable seed through the living word of God, we “love one another earnestly from a pure heart”. 

This new normal that we are being called to involves a change of mind, a change of heart (or affections), and a change of community. It involves learning a new culture, a new way of life, together. And it is a life of wilderness resistance, a life that calls for endurance--because we are swimming up stream, against the current. 

Whatever normal looks like after this pandemic, may these foundations be what shape our next chapter of life together. Jesus is Lord. Jesus’ people are my people. Together we will encourage and love one another while it is called today. Together we will learn a new culture, a new way of life that takes its values and mission from Jesus and His way;  a way that is constantly having to resist the conforming patterns of this world; a way that is characterized by gratitude, faithfulness, obedience, resistance, humility, hope, power in weakness, and seeking the good of others as more important than our own; a way that imitates our Lord, who ransomed us from slavery by his obedience and death. This is what repentance looks like. This is what living into your baptism looks like. This is what resurrection life looks like. And soon we get a fresh start to live this out in fresh ways. 

I long for the nearing day, when we can be back together again, and celebrate at the table with the Lord the breaking of the bread so that, like those disciples on the road to Emmaus, our eyes can be opened, and we can see the world as it really is. And not just see the world as it really is, but enhabit the world as it really is, together. Let’s get ready now.