A note from
Rev. Rob Warren
A minister uses a phrase that you may identify with a television show that began its run 11 years before that minister was born. Even though the phrase itself was only used in three of the 156 episodes, its use by countless impersonators has forever tied this phrase to a black-and-white show about the macabre, the paranormal, and events that take place in the fifth dimension. In fact, there is a good chance that you are reading these words and hearing the distinct timbre, pitch, and rhythm of the man who did not smoke as often as remembered, as he introduced... the Twilight Zone.
Have you really accepted what is going on or are you looking forward to "things getting back to normal?" I don't mean to make light of it, it's just that when the Coronavirus hit, I remember telling my barber I'd be back in a month or so, explaining to the church secretary that the office was going to be shut down for a bit, then going home to do little more than post daily devotionals recorded in the garage for a few weeks. 13 months later, on April 2nd, at 1:30 in the afternoon, I was sitting behind the wheel of my car two states away, rolling up my sleeve while rolling down my window. After answering questions from a person in a day-glow vest, another person that I hope had medical training injected something into my arm that is only approved for emergency use by the Food and Drug Administration. Then, I pulled my car forward so we could wait to see if I was going to have a reaction. I was seated behind the steering wheel of my still-running vehicle with the doors locked, waiting to see if I had a seizure or passed out. (At least I thought to put the car in park).
But the strangest part of this is that it didn't set off any alarm bells in my head at all. I didn't think anything about it until I started writing this article Wednesday morning. In what world is this kind of thing "normal?"
We have officially entered the fifth dimension. Not one of sight and sound, but one of mind. Where it is "normal" to receive medical treatment (and communion) from the comfort of your vehicle. Where it is "normal" to worship and receive medical appointments from anywhere you can have a laptop. Where, after at least 15 attempts, I've gotten much better at cutting my own hair (I am still uncomfortable with the confines of barber shops). I thought it strange when my dad and I were simultaneously chastised in Dutch for dancing in the airport x-ray machines in Amsterdam (we were twenty feet apart, but I am my father's son). Now? I let strangers point things at my head whenever I enter small buildings and wait for the beep that tells me I'm able to continue. I have a favored hand sanitizer dispenser type. Saying, "Eh, Covid" is enough to convince me of almost anything - because I don't even blink when a hypodermic needle is shoved into my arm while listening to John Michael Montgomery sing about an incident at the Grundy County Auction before attending the world's longest running book club/tailgate party. That's just what we do on Good Friday.
But, hear the Word of the Lord.
"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." Isaiah 41:10
That is our normal, our ordinary - that God is with us, will strengthen us, will help us, and uphold us - no matter how circumstances and situations shift and change.
Let us pray.
God, give me courage to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Amen.
Rob
