The COVID-19 pandemic continues to shut down businesses, schools, sports, graduations, church activities, and countless other events. The novelty of binge watching a TV series or having children home from school has lost its luster, and people are increasingly muttering, “How much longer until things get back to normal?” Watching people’s hair grow, viewing classic sports events from decades ago, and making a beeline to the toilet paper aisle while grocery shopping is not what anyone desires for the “new normal.” For the millions of recently unemployed workers and the hundreds of thousands of churches that cannot meet on Easter Sunday for the first time in their history, “normal” cannot return fast enough.
But should we want everything to go back to the way it was? Is returning to normal after a crisis wise?
Normal in the Upper Room
For more than three years, Jesus’ twelve disciples enjoyed the unprecedented opportunity to walk daily with the Messiah, the Son of God. They witnessed Jesus walking on water and raising dead people to life. It was a dream come true. The twelve reached the peak of their exhilarating new life in the upper room on the night Jesus was arrested. He had refreshed everyone by washing their feet. Then they had reclined at a table and enjoyed a holiday meal together. Some unusual conversations had taken place around the table, and Judas had briskly left the gathering. Nevertheless, it was a wonderful time with good friends and great food. If someone had captured a snapshot of that moment, the disciples would have remembered it later as the “good old days.”
Then crisis struck. Judas, their supposed friend, betrayed Jesus. Nothing would be the same again. What had begun as a tranquil, pleasant evening descended into a never-ending nightmare. Each disciple fled into the night, terrified he was being followed by the high priest’s henchmen. Peter, their outspoken leader, had been traumatized into denying any allegiance to Jesus by a servant girl’s simple question. It was the worst experience of their lives.
Fast forward to Sunday evening. The disciples had reconvened in the upper room, minus Thomas, Judas, and Jesus (John 20:19-23). We don’t know who arranged the gathering, but it was infinitely more somber than the meal a few evenings earlier. Perhaps it was their way of moving on or trying to get life back to normal. But, of course, returning to normal was impossible. How could they forget their trusted colleague’s treachery? How could they move past the loss of Jesus? Their itinerant ministries would come to a grinding halt without their Rabbi’s amazing teaching and miracles. Perhaps this meal was their last hurrah, a grudging farewell to the “normal” that had been savagely and suddenly yanked from them.
Then everything changed again. Jesus appeared in the room, but He hadn’t entered through the door! He immediately gave them peace and breathed the Holy Spirit upon them. He then issued a new, Spirit-empowered assignment that dwarfed their earlier tasks. Jesus would no longer remain with them physically, but they would have something even better: the Holy Spirit within them (John 16:7). They would no longer fail to understand the scriptures or inadvertently oppose Jesus’ work. Their ministry would reach heights they could never have imagined before Jesus’ crucifixion. They would not return to “normal.” They would take their service for Christ to unprecedented levels.
Normalcy after Crises
We are never the same after a crisis, and that’s often a good thing. After the Revolutionary War, Civil War, Great Depression, World War I, World War II, and 9/11, things changed forever. But those changes weren’t all bad. Before the Revolutionary War, America was an agrarian nation of farmers. After the war, cities and businesses began to develop. The Civil War was devastating, seeing 620,000 military casualties. Yet, when it was over, people could no longer be slaves in America. Things weren’t perfect after these crises, but they were better.
My children think I’m old enough to remember the Civil War. But what I really remember is 9/11. Everything changed afterward. As someone who flies a lot, I faced those changes immediately. Security used to be so lax that people could take all manner of dangerous items on board. Cockpit doors were not secure. Passport screenings were haphazard. Few planes carried air marshals. It took a while for things to settle down after 9/11, and security could certainly be improved, but it is undoubtedly superior to how it was. Even though it takes longer to clear security than it did in the past, I for one am glad for the changes.
History shows that healthy nations tend to improve after crises, whether they be epidemics, wars, or economic downturns. People look at ways to prevent the crisis from reoccurring, and they put resources in place to better respond if it does.
Our Response?
So how should we enter the future once this crisis has passed? We should do at least two things.
1. Make adjustments that will strengthen you and your organization.
Some people have said COVID-19 will forever change business, because people will stop shaking hands, a tradition that began in the Middle Ages. While such a change might seem unfriendly to some, the ancient practice has undoubtedly contributed to countless flu epidemics, to say nothing of worse diseases. Our mothers scolded us for not washing our hands frequently enough. Now we get it. We will continue to use hand sanitizer like never before. I have friends who would sterilize the armrests and tray table every time they took their seat on an airplane. Honestly, I thought those friends needed psychological intervention. Now sterilizing my seat area sounds like a great idea. Some people constantly invade other people’s personal space when they talk. You know the ones. They stand so close they spew you with saliva and their cologne overwhelms you. I’m not sure social distancing will cause permanent change in such folks but I’m hoping.
Churches and businesses have had to adapt, big time. For generations, churches have known they needed to break free from the model of people coming to the church building to receive ministry. Suddenly, with gatherings curtailed, churches scrambled to develop live streaming capabilities. Pastors began sending video messages to their congregants. It took a pandemic, but churches are finally being creative about how to get their message past the church walls and into people’s homes. Hopefully, this innovation will continue once people can return to their favorite pews on Sunday mornings.
Organizations have also been embracing virtual meeting services like Zoom. People can join these meetings from around the world, and participants typically only need to worry about wearing something nice on the top half of their body! Going forward, I suspect meetings will increasingly be virtual, saving people commuting time and expenses, to say nothing of carbon emissions.
I also suspect that, for in-person meetings, chairs will be spaced farther apart (we can only pray the same will be true for airplanes). Hand sanitizer will be much more pervasive. Common areas will be cleaned more thoroughly. People handling food, mail, packages, and other items that are passed from hand to hand will wear gloves and be much more careful about spreading germs. And the elderly and people at greater risk will be much better protected than they were before.
This pandemic will make us smarter and cleaner, which is good. Who knows how many sicknesses and deaths we’ll prevent because of the changes we’ll make going forward.
2. Appreciate what you have.
I would be remiss if I didn’t say that, going forward, we also need to appreciate what we have. Many of us did not know how blessed we were until things were suddenly taken away. Attending a church service was routine before such gatherings were forbidden. I suspect the first church services conducted after the lessening of restrictions will be a blessed affair! My parents live two blocks from me. I have typically dropped in on them whenever I liked. Now I agonize over whether I should stop by, even if I’m wearing a mask and dropping off medicines. I long to stop in on them by surprise and hug them. I had a full schedule of speaking and travel lined up for this spring. But then meetings were cancelled in droves. I took my work for granted until I couldn’t do it anymore. And, of course, we will never view a store aisle filled with toilet paper the same way again. Americans, we assumed far too much about our lifestyle. Hopefully our new normal is gratitude.
Conclusion
Am I anxious for things to return to normal? I don’t think so. I’m shooting a lot higher. I’m certainly ready for the current situation to pass. But as soon as it does, I hope I live my life better and safer than I did before.
