If Not Now, When?

About five years ago, I went to a writing workshop at Christ Church

Ponte Vedra;

it is was something I had wanted to do for such a long time. Thanks to Bishop Porter Taylor for launching me on a journey of writing that has changed my life!

This song played off and on throughout the workshop, and it has come to mean a great deal to me. As I listened to it yesterday as I was walking my granddaughter, I realized how incredibly appropriate it is for where we are now in this time of pandemic; apocalyptic some of us might say.

Some of us are very lonely, some of us are very busy, many of us are confused and many many of us are afraid.

Humanity has had these pandemics before, and what followed them is worth noticing. The Bubonic plague in the 14th century, the yellow fever epidemic in the 19th century and the Spanish flu pandemic in the early 20th century all left a mark on the world. Following the Bubonic plague was the greatest surge of creativity ever in humankind: the Renaissance. After the yellow fever epidemic, we saw what was known as the gay 90s, which birthed the suffragette movement as well as a whole host of society scandals and widespread economic panic.

Then there was the Spanish Fever epidemic in the second decade of the 1900's after which we saw the roaring 20s, a period of the highest highs and the lowest lows in the history of our country.

What will happen after this pandemic? Do we have a choice? Are we poised to make a difference in what follows?

I wonder if Carrie Newcomer's song might remind us of what part we can play in what follows. I wonder if all those things we have prayed for like peace and love for our neighbor and care for the sick and the poor and the widowed and the prisoner might shape what history will remember followed the COVID 19 pandemic.

I wonder, I really wonder...