It's Been a While
Firstly, how are you doing? This pandemic chapter in our history has been a strange and challenging one. I take comfort in knowing that we are being collectively humbled and reminded of what really matters in this life. We are seeing a lot of things come to light. Our idols and all things that hold our affection and attention are being exposed and challenged. It’s a lot to process and deal with. Above all else, God is enthroned, redeeming everything, and making all things new.
A new ordinary
We have all settled into a new way of living during this quarantine. Many of us have successfully merged our daily duties with this updated ordinary. Working from home has always been a thing for me, but now that everyone in my home is working from home as well, it’s nice to have some work proximity associates around. During breaks, I can actually turn to my husband and process things with him out loud rather than lonelily staring into the void and eating my lunch over the sink.
I love watching friends create new and beautiful things in this in-between. Songwriting, artwork, DIY projects, cooking moments and more have delightfully reached a plateau, and new hobbies have become creative habits. I love that. Have you discovered a new hobby? (I started painting like a maniac, so I have all these acrylic doodles and not enough frames to house them. Anyone want one?). Stick to it, write about it. Why that particular activity? I started writing about why I started painting, and that reflection has been spiritually unearthing.
Grief and mourning marks this era, too. This pandemic has claimed many lives, and many are fully sorrowing over the passing of loved ones. For my brothers and sisters who struggle with depression and anxiety, this has been a fight. Solitude and contact distancing does more harm than good when the tide rises (I see you and hear you). We are lamenting and longing for in-person reunions and openly enjoying the world around us.
“The more we lament, the more we open ourselves up to hope.”
— Mike Erre (from The Holy Post Podcast Episode 403)
I see people grieving when they create in this tension; when they adjust to technological means of connecting; when they applaud the shift changes of medical professionals; when they protest on the corner. These are just a few examples of how we all process this grief as seen on social media today. Surely, some ways are more loving towards our neighbor than others—that we must acknowledge. But as I was processing through this with my friend Haley Montgomery, we talked through the thought that God is publicly unveiling our longing and there are things He is putting to death that we may mourn but must not revive.
Scott Erickson posted on Instagram: "If you love the form, you have everything to lose. If you love 𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 gives it its form, you're..." * See 6,405 photos and videos on their profile.
Easy example—my comfort in the West. As a follower of Jesus, it is uncomfortable to shift my thinking from a building and to-the-minute services to the simple reality that every saint is the Church. God’s grace to crucify our control so that we can trust the power and work of His Spirit to faithfully minister to every heart, hold us to biblical orthodoxy, and also unify us in the bond of peace should be a sanctifying blessing to us. A building and an “order of service” are not bad things! They are tools to facilitate fellowship and gathering. I also think about Scott Erickson says with his piece:
“If you love the form, you have everything to lose.
If you love 𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 gives it its form, you’re free to receive whatever It is turning into.”
If our dependence upon the form of our idea of “church” overtakes and supersedes the Presence that makes us the Church, to say that there is discomfort there would be an understatement. It’s spiritual triage. God is sanctifying this in our hearts, and it can hurt like hell, like surgery we are wide awake for. It also hurts to watch as Christ’s healthy diagnosis of His Bride in Scripture is held up against what many of the West have made it.
(Note: I am grateful to be a part of a community that recognizes and lives in daily confession of what we do and don’t do well. We are by no means perfect, but I see God revealing things that need adjustment and leadership has made decisions in obedience and love of neighbor. For that, I am thankful and challenged to see where I fit in this unique body of believers.)
So now what?
I don’t stinking know, man. I’m just a person who longs after Christ and His promise to make all things new. I heard it said that “God gives wisdom, not certainty.” We read that time and time again in the Bible. All I know, as exemplified in the Psalms, is that lamenting is good. It shows that the eternity in our hearts is longing for redemption. There is resurrection life at work here too. If you are in Christ, you have been made alive. You have a Living Hope that the sad things will become untrue, the unjust things will be answered and sentenced, and He shall reign. Until then, You can rest in the finished work of Christ, be satisfied and content in His redeeming grace, actively love your neighbor with His immense and all-encompassing love, and be a non-anxious presence by the power of His Spirit.
all that to say
My best friend Krista and I started a podcast called The Third Culture Podcast. If my weirdness doesn’t already attest to this, I am a Third Culture Kid and grew up wrestling with “belonging” all my life. When Krista and I met, we found out that we were both TCKs and that’s what solidified our bond. We started this podcast to let you in on our banter and our need to “talk it out,” whatever it is. I hope you love it or are at least think it’s pretty cool. Even if you don’t, that’s cool. You do you.