Echoes

Case loads have plummeted! Time to toss the masks and get back to normal!

Great. What is normal again?

I started wondering about 'normal' this week as I was in a couple of spaces that had echoes. There were no people there, and when I spoke or made noise, my sounds echoed around me. It was as if the space itself was trying to fill itself with more people and activity by repeating my sounds.

There seem to be a lot of spaces in our lives these days that are different, and some of them are empty. Hearing echos is eerie, and it can feel lonely. Trying to fill an empty space can be hard, and sometimes we prefer to walk away rather than try to replace something that is gone.

As we are recovering from omicron, or maybe paused before the next variant emerges, we may be facing empty spaces in our lives. Maybe people have moved on to other activities, maybe stuff is moved. Some of us are facing more permanent echoes, with loved ones who have died, or businesses that have closed.

The people of Israel faced changes, some of which came with the empty echoes of people and times gone by. The prophet Jeremiah brought us a message from God:

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:11-13

God promises to be with us, and prepare for us, with plans that will benefit us. God calls us to pray and promises to listen. When we hear echos in empty spaces in our lives, God reminds us that God is in the small, silent spaces. With us. Around us. Always.

Listen for the echoes in your life, and seek God with all your heart to replace the echoes with peace and grace.

Pastor Anna-Lisa Hunter

March 2, 2022