We are experiencing a unique time in our lives. There have been wars, depressions, plagues, crashes, and now a pandemic. Maybe it is because we are so hopelessly intertwined with each other through technology, maybe it is because we are more aware of what happens around the world. There is something different this time around, the panic buying of goods, the blatant disregard for calls to self isolate, the shear weight of awareness about the spreading virus. I watched the 9th episode of Band of Brothers last night with a few of my children and was struck with story of the troops discovering a concentration camp. The overwhelming surprise of the men seeing other people caged, emaciated, dead and dying is difficult to imagine in our over-teched world. Not that seeing another person suffering does not impact us but I think we are in a state of constant desensitization with the volume of information we have access to, and it has darkened our sense of surprise, of wonder, of joy.
I am also struck with how this current crisis is having drastically different impacts on people depending on where you live, what you do for work, how you see the crisis and your place in its impact. It all makes me think about the year of Jubilee that the Pentateuch describes in detail but never really took hold. The idea of a cyclical practice of starting over is a concept that is the antithesis of our western capitalized system. Why would we ever forgive debts, set new prices, grant release, it seems to imply a destruction that our system can not endure. What if that implied destruction is exactly what we need, what if we need a Jubilee to renew our culture, our systems, our souls. What if this pandemic is that loud trumpet telling us to open our hearts, our minds, our control, our desires, our fears, our dreams and start over. This pandemic is a deafening sound being heard everywhere. It has shown us that we are connected, connected in ways we did not imagine. Our desire to have more, see more, know more, control more has utterly hopelessly connected us with the world in a way that we can not turn from.
Yet, as we live through this upheaval we react differently due to our circumstances, our desires, our position, our fear. Some of us hoard things we normally take for granted, some of us ignore calls to change behavior, some of us embrace conspiracy, some hide, some rebel, some blame. We are all doing something in response to this virus. Yes it is an anxious time, with a virus traveling around world and impacting everyone in some way. This is not a time to sit in your private world and pretend it is not happening. Something we really have no way to control is reaching into our lives and changing how we interact with the world, with others, with ourselves. Could it be we have reached a tipping point, a place where we have finally and clearly exposed the ghost in our machines. Could it be that we have seen the depths of our selfishness, the heights of our compassion, and the weight of our fears in a way that will show a path forward to a new way of being. A place where that loud trumpet signals a shift to a worldview that sees clearly. A view that brings courage to stand up for others, for ourselves, for our world that creates a lightness that we were blind to before this trumpet blew.
Yes there is a seriousness to our current plight, people are dying, people are suffering. Could the idea of a 50 year cycle of release and refreshing be more than we can imagine, more than we can risk, more than our systems can bear, but maybe that is exactly what is needed. Maybe the Jubilee never took hold because people could not believe they were capable of that level of compassion, that level of forgiveness, that level of sacrifice. Yes some would sacrifice more than others, some would rebel more than others, some would accuse more than others. Yet, part of me yearns for this kind of refreshing, this kind of forgiveness, this kind of love. We are capable of things we have never imagined, hopelessly destructive things, hopelessly sacrificial things, hopelessly loving things. We need a change, a refreshing, a loud trumpet calling us to a new way of being, a new way of seeing, a new way of living, a new way of loving. So my challenge to you is sit and ponder and dream what a world would look like if we all embraced this idea of starting anew, starting over, celebrating a Jubilee of love, of service, of friendship, of joy. It will never be perfect, but it could just be the world we all know we want but have been afraid to seek. So hear the sound and change.