Jars of Clay…peace

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

John 14:27

2020 has certainly thrown the world a curveball. Normalcy, where did you go? All you moms with kids at home, are you wondering what to do next? You working women, is virtual meeting all it was cracked up to be? I prune the azaleas in front of the house and neighbors from far and wide walk by. A man on a bike way-too-small pops a wheelie and impresses his son. Do you wish it would end, or are you loving the change of pace?        

David Kessler, co-author with Kubler-Ross on grieving, when interviewed by the Harvard Review, identifies our loss of normalcy as grief. To the five stages of grief (see Monday) he has added a sixth dimension in his new book: Finding Meaning…the sixth stage of grief, Scribner, 2019. Acceptance is not enough we find. We try our best to explain, to anticipate, to find peace.

I like what he said in the introduction: this just happened; it is not a test nor a lesson; it does not require understanding; everyone must find her own peace. Of course the experts need to know the science; our aim is to meaningfully redeem our days.

So how have you made sense of this present crisis? I am amazed at the creativity online. My favorite may be the horse and rider, Day 6 in Quarantine to “A Horse with No Name”. We have been amused. And we have been touched. We join the Parisians and New Yorkers in their nightly shoutout to health care workers everywhere.

But more than all we have been blessed by reminders that God is with us in our isolation, as in the GABC Covid Daily. Good Friday’s edition by Ken Warren was timely in our reluctant separation from tradition: As the characters in the original Easter story watched from the sidelines, inevitably each heart encounters the risen Jesus ALONE!

There too the Moment to Worship brightened my morning solitude. Check these out on YouTube: the monologue of an imaginary Joseph of Arimathea: “God in My Grave”, and the music of Zach Williams: “Empty Grave”. And “Peacemaker” by Greg Ferguson took me directly to that comforting character of the Lord in the Word.

My favorite picture of peace is by Jack E. Dawson: “Peace in the Midst of the Storm”. Look carefully—a little bird, perched safely in a niche in a rock, storm raging. Lord, peace in the midst of Covid. Your peace in my clay jar. The world has nothing.  

Nancy P