In this fourth week of the Lenten season, we suddenly find ourselves thrown into deepening moments of introspection. The quickly changing world situation has found some of us hunkering down, choosing to stay closer to home in the hopes of protecting others and ourselves against the spread of Covid-19. In doing so, we are suddenly faced with moments of stillness in our daily routines and subtle but definite periods of deafening silence.
Many of us are of the baby boomer generation (born between 1946-1964). With the exception of the polio outbreaks during 1940-1950, the Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. assassinations during the 1960’s and, and the unbelievable horrors witnessed during the tsunamis in Thailand, Indonesia and Japan in the 1990s, we have had little experience dealing with uncertainty and fear.
For most of us, our grandparents were a part of our growing years. They lived through WWI, the Spanish Flu Epidemic and WWII and, because of this, our own parents were able to draw on them for wisdom, strength and the guidance their experiences provided. As a result, we felt relatively safe and protected because our own ancestors had lived with and through such events.
Now it is we who are expected to be the guiding light for our own children and grandchildren. It is a daunting and challenging task with so many unknown factors and conflicting information for us to sift through.
As I searched for comfort in the Bible this weekend, I turned to the Wisdom of Solomon and found the following words:
Wisdom 9:1-6
1 "God of my ancestors, merciful Lord, by your word you created everything. 2 By your Wisdom you made us humans to rule all creation, 3 to govern the world with holiness and righteousness, to administer justice with integrity. 4 Give me the Wisdom that sits beside your throne; give me a place among your children. 5 I am your slave, as was my mother before me. I am only human. I am not strong, and my life will be short. I have little understanding of the Law or of how to apply it. 6 Even if someone is perfect, he will be thought of as nothing without the Wisdom that comes from you.
(The Wisdom of Solomon was written in Greek, in Alexandria (Egypt), in the late 1st century BC to early 1st century AD; the author's prime literary source was the Septuagint, in particular the Wisdom literature and the Book of Isaiah, and he was familiar with late Jewish works as the Book of Enoch and with Greek)
This is the time to ask God for wisdom and guidance. This is the time to take solace in the fact that our parents and grandparents also faced times of great trial.
Yes, for many, this is a time which might test our faith. But it is also a time to remember that we are not alone. In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us.
May you find great peace in the days and weeks to come, knowing that the promises of God reach beyond our measure of time.
Beryl
image: The small and fragile Snowdrop flower is a symbol of rebirth and overcoming obstacles in life.