So What's New?

I used the phrase in a recent post; "so what" ("Good-Lifers," May 10, 2021). It was my slightly plaintive way of asking the question about things possibly learned by all of us thanks to our recent pandemic lifestyle. In other words, what are we doing with new knowledge gained after digital worship services or webinars or Zoom meetings or chat sessions? I'm afraid the answer is "not much."

I attended in person worship this last Sunday. It was a hybrid, with both in-person and on-line options available. Worship leader was one of our techno-savvies, live streaming provided by one of our techno-experts, and sermon by our techno pastor. The 'in-persons' gathered? You guessed it; it was us oldies who prefer sitting in church as we have done for decades, a habit not yet broken even after last year and a half of staring at screens. A few children and one young person - offspring of the hard workers. After church the senior citizens drove off in pursuit of the other pre-corona habit, lunch at a nearby restaurant. Nothing new here. Lunch to the tune of $20 - $25 per person no problem! Church budget may be struggling but as yet old patterns still in place.

So what's new? Nothing much also in my other diversion - the hockey world.  We still pay the gladiators to kill each other while hockey fans spill beer over each other. It's NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs! In a couple weeks one team will hoist the Cup for all the world to see. In the American cities - to whit Vegas or New York or Tampa Bay - it's almost 'back to normal' again. Hockey has returned to the delirium of in-person fans instead of tarpaulin covered empty seats. 

Playoffs round three, semi-finals. My expectation (hope?) for a kinder-gentler series seems already nixed. Tampa Bay Lightning and New York Islanders game two ended in a brawl even though the coaches are best of friends. Back to hockey I guess! And playoffs are always rougher tougher, like a new season with only the best allowed. Players worth their ilk need playoff experience; so say the talking heads - Kevin Bieksa, Kelly Hrudy et al. Now it's back to plexiglass rattling front seat fans announcing their in-person presence like kids in their playpen. One fight featured a full grown middle aged inebriated spectator yelling and making faces at the player (can't remember whom) getting pommeled. Wow, what maturity! It's as though the old devil of previous lifestyle is back. We're still the idiots who entered into corona season a couple eaons ago. I smile at a couple of my idealistic positive thinking blogposts about a year ago, hinting at possibilities of civility thanks to this sobering pandemic (Eg."The Civilizing of Hockey," September 19, 2020). 

So is it just me? Although occasionally affected by moodiness, I think this observation stands. It's not just my moodiness. [Okay you can beg to differ if you wish]. I am in midst of a true-blue disappointment about my fellow human beings. Indeed I had positively, optimistically, humanely (naively?) predicted a nicer gentler perspective possibly in the political, the community and familial environments after this pandemic got done with us. Read some of those heartfelts (Eg. "Corona Community," April 3, 2020 or "The Stretch," June 28, 2020). 😞 Apparently Real Estate markets are a good indicator of what drives local economies. Modest houses like mine are going like crazy I'm told because people who can't afford a house will try to bite into ownership because prices and interest rates look affordable. Ah, familiar old fashioned values. Real estate agents probably lining their pockets just like they have done in previous years.

Bottom line here, I am back to the opening question, "so what?" As life returns to some degree of normalcy; as many have complied and many defied protocol, along with the bleating of opinions in beginning, middle and post-pandemic, who had it right? As churches and sport coliseums reopen doors my bet is firmly on at least one thing, and I find that in the Bible, "Not everyone who says to me Lord Lord will enter the Kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 7:21). We still have things to learn. We also still have things to unlearn. 

God is not done with us yet. Fortunately for us, that also is nothing new.