Alvin Toffler wrote back in 1970 in his book Future Shock that the world then was as different from the world of 1923 as the world of 1923 was from Julius Caesar's day. Until the 20th Century, the changes in technology and industry were hardly discernable during a lifetime, but since then change has been traveling at light speed. And since Toffler wrote, change has been traveling at the speed of neurtrinos – ghostly subatomic particles.
Cultural analysts report that our society is reinvented at least every three to five years. That is, the core distinctions of our society--our language, customs, values, and fashions are significantly reshaped that quickly. There’s a measure of confidence that comes with believing society is stable and permanent, but the fact is, culture is constantly undergoing changes. That has been proven to us all in the last six months.
During the last six months, much dramatic change has been initiated in our culture —some of it welcomed and some unwelcomed.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about unwelcomed change. Each of us had our lifestyles dramatically impacted, and it will continue to be impacted for the foreseeable future.
Netflix has greatly changed the way that many of us have endured the COVID-19 pandemic — binge watching seems to be the new normal for many of us.
There are few of us who had ever attended a Zoom meeting until six months ago. In February, did any of you even know the new phrase for 2020, “You are muted!”? Each day my schedule is usually filled with 3-4 Zoom meetings. It is the new normal.
All of us have had to change the way that we function within a community of faith. Most are still worshiping only by livestreaming or with limited attendance in outside worship. Fellowship and faith formation events have taken a drastically different approach.
Some of us have lost loved ones during this tragic time and been unable to grief together as we once did as a community; some have had their wedding plans dramatically altered, and some have welcomed new life into this strange and isolated world.
The recent unrest and protests about structural racism and discrimination against people of color are bringing about change that most compassionate and thinking people are embracing as a welcomed change to our societal structures.
Change, whether welcomed or unwelcomed, can unsettle us. All of this change can be tiring, draining, depressing, and resulting in anger and resentment. Many attempt to cope by denying it. Our temptation is to run from this change, rather than embrace it and ask, “How can it make our community better on the other side? How are we to deal with change, change, everywhere change?
May I reacquaint you with an amazing story in the history of Israel, which occurred some 868 years before Jesus. The great prophet of Israel found himself speaking truth to power as he opposed the evil ways of King Ahab and his wife, Jezebel. Suddenly, the life that he had loved, life that he had cherished was crumbling apart. His life was turned upside down when Elijah confronted these two on a great showdown on Mount Carmel. After a dramatic contest in which he neutered the false prophets of Ahab and Jezebel, Elijah realized that the only way to save his hide was to flee to the wilderness.
It is there that he hides and finds himself in a dark night of his soul. It is in his despair that God passes before Elijah. The biblical text says: "Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence."
Elijah discovers that his way of coping with his changing world is by finding peace in the calming, silent presence of God. Of all the things that change in this world, there is only one that will not change, and that is the loving, caring presence of God.
This story reminds us in the midst of our constantly changing world of the words of the psalmist, “Be still, and know that I am God!” God is with us and will give us the wisdom, strength, and courage to embrace this changing moment.