Tectonic Shift in Our Life Situations



For a generation of North Americans who have lived with very little trauma in their lives, generally speaking, the shift in life situations over the last number of weeks has been dramatic.


O
ur fast paced, frenetic lives have taken a decided detour and redirection with the advent of Covid19, the coronavirus that has swept around the world, reportedly slaying its thousands, emptying malls, schools halls, sports arenas, airports, movie theaters, streets, highways, byways and church sanctuaries, cancelling concerts, conferences and a multitude of public events for an as yet undetermined period of time.

Most churches have responded by obeying the government directives severely limiting public gatherings. Household worship is the temporary norm as families and individuals tune in each Sunday to computers and televisions to watch ministers bring the Word, either from their homes or from near empty church buildings.

Businesses that have been required to close and those relying on seasonal product sales are suffering major setbacks. Many are laid off, some perhaps permanently as businesses border on the brink of survival.

In the meantime, multitudes wait out the time in their homes and neighborhoods with few distractions to relieve their boredom and dissolve their angst. Sales of puzzles have skyrocketed. Gas prices have plunged, and stocks are roller-coasting. Some nursing homes have been under siege; those better prepared are riding out the corona storm. Visitors not allowed. Christian school halls are empty as children learn from home, a forced institutional form of home schooling that parents have had to embrace, and a situation no one in our pre-Covid19 world would have thought possible.

Book sales are benefiting as are the courier services that deliver product to front porches. As the school-year winds down in June, public graduations are unlikely. Churches are shifting their outreach in response to current restrictions. In our local area greenhouse businesses have been giving away plants and flowers, with volunteers distributing these gifts to neighbors, tied to the message of hope in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Ministers are airing devotional meditations on the internet for people seeking some anchor in these turbulent times. While we can’t change the situation, we can respond to it in biblically directed, sanctifying ways.

John Van Dyk, Editor
Christian Renewal Magazine

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