The Last Sunday of How It Used to Be

One year ago today, on March 8, 2020, we had the last worship service of the pre-Covid era.  We had no idea how radically life would change over the next few months.  When Council suspended services last March, we figured it would be a few weeks and then back to normal.  As things remained closed we allowed that it could be a bit longer.  But once things opened up, we would all be back together worshipping and sharing hugs.  The road back has been far more gradual than we suspected.  We still haven’t achieved “how it used to be.”  We wonder if it will ever be like that again.

As I think back on that last Sunday of pre-Covid, I am struck by how fast everything changed.  I had no idea!  Yet God did.  Covid has not caught God off guard.  Coronavirus is not a surprise to God.  It hasn’t sent him scrambling to accommodate his plan to this new development.  God knew about Covid from eternity.  He knew how human sin would lead to this.  And as difficult as it’s been for you and me and millions of others, God has woven this painful time into his beautiful plan.  I wonder how we’ll see this experience in another 5, 10, or 50 years?  There will be plenty of perspectives.  We may never understand why.  But looking back, I believe that we will see God co-opting the consequences of sin to create a goodness that could not have happened any other way.