There is a lot of conversation on both broadcast and social media these days about the new normal that will exist after the COVID-19 crisis has passed. There is no doubt that things will be different than what we have become accustomed to in the early days of the 21^st century. But what we have considered to be normal in the last few years is vastly different than we did only a few decades ago. The emergence of the communication age has brought about great changes to the landscape in just a few years. Communicating by smartphone has largely taken the place of face-to-face communication. Online shopping has made great inroads into the marketplace, replacing much of the commerce for brick and mortar establishments. Takeout and delivery were already beginning to take the place of dining out even before the imposition of social distancing mandates meant to stem the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

This should not be a great surprise to anyone who knows much about history. What has been considered the cultural norm has continued to evolve ever since Man began to leave the cave dwelling hunter-gatherer existence to begin farming and domestication of livestock and to dwell first in villages and later cities. During this time division and specialization of labor also came into play, and along with it a barter and later monetary economy. These changes were very gradual and more easily adjusted to as a result. Through this period of evolution Man continued for the most part to live in large family groups and closely related tribes, seldom venturing far from home. There were exceptions, of course, as the population grew and migration occurred to explore and develop new lands. But change still came slowly and gradually.

Then the onset of the Industrial Age began to change things much more rapidly as more and more people left the farm to live in cities and work in the new factories. The nuclear family of father, mother and children became the new norm and mass production and new inventions began to replace much of the cottage industry that had existed for many years. The Industrial Age also introduced new means of more rapid transportation, such as the automobile and the railroads, greatly increasing the mobility of the population and enabling population shifts to a variety of locations previously considered almost inaccessible. Although these changes were massive most people were gradually able to adjust to them as the “new norm”.

The late 19^th and early 20^th centuries saw the introduction of the telegraph, the telephone, motion pictures, radio and television, as well as mainframe computers, leading eventually to personal computers, mobile phones and later smartphones with more computing power than early mainframe computers. The Information Age was upon us, flooding us with more information in a day than our ancestors had accumulated over their lifetimes. The effects of this information overload and the rapidly increasing rate of change were noted as early as the 1970’s by authors such as Alvin Toffler in “Future Shock” and “The Third Wave”, Daniel H. Pink in “A Whole New Mind” and Jeremy Rifkin in “ENTROPY: A New World View”. Generational rifts were developing between older people for whom the new technologies and the societal changes they were engendering were often baffling, even frightening, and younger ones who easily and rapidly adopted them, as well as between those who had access to the technology and could afford it and those who did not and could not. By the early 21^st century society was becoming more and more divided and divisive, with people with differing views on politics, religion, lifestyles, globalization, climate change and many other things shouting at each other (often on social media) rather than calmly and logically discussing their differences and trying to understand the other’s point of view.

 That is where things stood when the COVID-19 pandemic suddenly burst onto the scene in 2020, eventually engulfing the entire globe. Another new normal was being thrust upon us, unready and unwilling as we might be to accept it. Social distancing became the recommendation and in many places the mandated rule, shuttering many business and throwing more people out of work in the United States than we had seen since the Great Depression of the 1930’s. The virus was starting to overwhelm the health care system and the death rate was skyrocketing, particularly in the minority communities where many already had developed compromised immune systems and underlying medical conditions due to lack of lack of accessibility and affordability of adequate routine medical care. Public gatherings were largely banned, creating challenges for religious organizations and others in communicating with and ministering to their members. Online virtual meetings and religious services became the rule, rather than the exception.

On the positive side, though, these changes were forcing us to confront the problems caused by the fragmentation of family and societal structure and the distances we were creating between societal groups, regions and even nations. We began to realize that we, that is, the whole of humanity, were in this together and starting to acknowledge the need for treating each other with respect and kindness, even love. Families were spending time together, conversing face to face and sharing meals together. Friends and neighbors (even distant neighbors) were checking in on each other and offering help to those who needed it. Government was providing relief to businesses and individuals who had lost their sources of income. We were all seeming to care more about the welfare of others beside ourselves. This was becoming the latest new normal for many.

The new normal will, of course, continue to evolve after the COVID-19 crisis dies out. Many who lost their jobs will not be able to return to them, some because their employers no longer even exist. Workers will have to retrain for other types of work.  Owners who lost their businesses will have to start over to compete in the new economy. But although many former opportunities will be lost, many new ones will arise for those willing to do what is necessary to take advantage of them. This will be part of the new normal.

I admit that not everyone is changing yet. There is still too much name calling, backbiting and finger pointing. And there are those who are still acting selfishly, ignoring social distancing mandates and hoarding vital resources for themselves. However, I am hopeful, if not yet fully convinced, that those who seek a kinder, gentler, more loving and caring society will soon reach a tipping point that will tilt society in that direction. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said:

“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”

When that occurs perhaps we can one day reach a state where everyone’s needs are met and we can all lead carefree lives, being fully present in the daily now, accepting what is, without concern for the past or the future. We will then have returned to the original normal, as it was in the Garden of Eden before Man’s fall, enjoying each moment and savoring our close relationship with our Creator. That is God’s heartfelt desire for all of us. May it be so.

In his book “The Power of Now” Ekhart Tolle urges us to forget about the disappointment and hurts of the past, stop worrying about the future, and concentrate on being fully conscious in the present. After all, the present is all we ever have. It’s always today. Yesterday is gone forever and tomorrow may never come. If we miss out on what is going on in the present we are wasting our most valuable (and irreplaceable) asset: time.

Another way to put this is, life is not so much about a future destination as it is about the journey. Today is all you really have, so carpe diem (seize the day)! Jesus was quite clear about this when he said:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?

So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:25-34 NIV)

At the beginning of his ministry Jesus had given the invitation to follow him and to enter into the kingdom of heaven. And he made it clear that meant here and now, not at some time in the future. The kingdom of heaven is in your midst he said. The invitation was to journey along with him to enjoy his presence and to learn from him. His disciples left everything behind and did follow him although they didn’t really understand what that meant. Up to the end of his ministry they expected the Messiah to be a conquering hero who would overthrow the oppressive government and set them free from Roman domination. He did that indeed, although he did it through all powerful love and not destructive force. When the disciples finally understood that after the Holy Spirit filled them at Pentecost, they went out in love and conquered the whole world in Jesus’ name, including the Roman Empire.

Fellowship with God is what we are created for, to travel the journey of life with him, enjoying his presence with us and learning from him, as it was in the Garden of Eden. Jesus’ ancestor King David had said many years before,

“One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.” (Psalm 27:4 NIV) and

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” (Psalm 42:1, 2 NKJV)

David did not have the advantage we have today of the full time indwelling of God’s Spirit and looked forward to the day he could enjoy God’s uninterrupted presence. But Jesus still calls us to follow him on life’s journey today and every day. If you think of salvation only as a “golden ticket” to a future paradise you are sadly mistaken. God’s call is to join him now in the kingdom of heaven. Life is a journey we can enjoy today more than a location to arrive at some future time.

In his book, “A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose”, Eckhart Tolle warns against believing the roles one plays are our identity. As he points out, our roles in society in centuries past were largely determined by the circumstances of our birth. We were assigned to a social class from which it was usually next to impossible to escape and then expected to continue in the roles assigned to our family (butcher, baker, candlestick maker, homemaker, etc.) whether or not that was what we really wanted to do. And most people identified themselves by the roles they filled.

These days we for the most part are able to choose the roles we want to fill, such as trade or profession, and even whether or not to marry and raise a family. Even then there is a danger in identifying ourselves with those roles. Will we lose our sense of identity if and when those roles change? The current global COVID-19 crisis has brought this question into sharp focus. Although only a small proportion of the world’s population has actually contracted the virus and an even smaller proportion has died from it, everyone in the world has been impacted by the virtual shutdown of society with the exception of what are teemed vital services. A great many people have lost their jobs (their source of the income needed to care for themselves and their families). For many of these their health insurance also disappeared with their job. And there is a real possibility many of the roles they played in their jobs and the jobs themselves will not exist after the crisis is past. In many cases their former employers may not even exist.

If they identified themselves by their former roles, they may not know who they are anymore, and how they will fit in to the new society that exists post crisis. Even before the COVID-19 crisis erupted around the world, society was changing so rapidly that Tolle was telling us:

“In fact, in the modern world more and more people are confused as to where they fit in, what their purpose is, and even who they are.”

The key to understanding our purpose in life is to know who we are. When we realize who we truly are, all roles aside, it becomes obvious what our life purpose is. We are God’s children, made in his image, and our purpose is clearly spelled out for us. We are made, first of all, for fellowship with God. As the Westminster Shorter Catechism posits it:

Q: What is the chief end of man?
A: Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

That was the state that existed in the Garden of Eden before Mankind decided that, instead of just enjoying God’s presence, trusting him to supply all their needs, they wanted to begin to learn about good and evil so they could take control of their lives and make their own decisions instead of relying on God. They desired to be like God themselves. Look where that has led us.

Jesus made our purpose clear when he answered the question of what God’s greatest commandment was. He said;

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
This is the first and greatest commandment.”

Then he continued;

“And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.”

And he concluded;

“All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

So there you have it in a nutshell: our identity and our purpose. If we keep these in mind in whatever roles we undertake, we will not confuse our identity and purpose with the roles we are currently filling, and when those roles change, as they undoubtedly will, we will never lose our sense of identity and purpose.

Yes, I believe in ESP, and I believe we all can and should being engaging in it. And here’s why. When we experience something we can’t see, hear, touch, smell or taste but we know somehow it is real, that is commonly called ESP or Extrasensory Perception (or sixth sense). I have come to understand that what is really happening is we are Experiencing Spiritual Prompting. That is to say we are “hearing” what God’s Holy Spirit is quietly whispering to our hearts and souls. God is always whispering to us by his Spirit, but we are usually so preoccupied with the cacophony of voices competing for our attention that we cannot hear him. It is in our unguarded moments that God is most often able to break through to us. This is not very often and that is a shame.

It’s a shame because while we are busily trying to deal with the host of complicated issues confronting us, which are just beyond the reach of our ability to fully comprehend, much less conceive of solutions to, we are not listening for the voice of the one who can and will provide us with the answers when we are not even sure what all the questions are. God alone understands not only what we are currently experiencing, but also what we will be confronted with in the future. And he is eager to guide us through the wilderness to the Promised Land.

It seems to me that since the current COVID-19 pandemic has created a world-wide crisis that we are all struggling to understand and combat, it is more important than ever to be listening for God’s solutions to the myriad questions we have about it.  Now is the time to quiet our minds and open our hearts and souls to Experience Spiritual Prompting. That is the ESP which will see us through this crisis.

So let’s all be still and listen intently for that still small voice. Let’s Experience Spiritual Prompting.