A lot of talk in the business media recently seems to be focused on what the world of business will look like in the future. Some have taken to avoid the term “the new normal” and are calling it “the next normal”. Yes, I recognize that much of that is to ‘brand’ their opinions to make them heard in a veritable cacophony of opinions.
Regardless, I kind of like that “next normal” phrase better, as it appears to me that the dichotomy of old and new is stained with incipient value judgements about new somehow being always better than old. Or vice versa, depending much on the age of the person making the statement.
“Next” implies that we are on a continuum, a movement of culture as it were, without overlaying judgements of value. So, what is the “next normal” in our faith?
While many of us understand that how we will behave in the next month, the next year, the next decade, will change because of this pandemic, I suspect that – if we have given it any thought at all – we kind-of expect that our faith lives won’t change. Mass on Sunday. celebrations of births, weddings, deaths will be pretty much as they were before. Maybe a few cosmetic changes (masks until a vaccine is found, new signs of peace, no holy water fonts, etc.). But the essence of the hallmark of Catholicism (going to Mass on Sunday, or feeling a little bit guilty if we don’t) will remain.
The pandemic has given us an opportunity to really experience the many and varied ways we relate to, and pray to, and give worship to, God. And rather than see this as a ‘loss’ of something (our ways of ‘going to church’) in the past, perhaps we can look at this time as a way of exploring some of the “next” ways of connecting with God. (To be clear, just as the Father Son and Holy Spirit are always with us, so too are Prayer, God’s Word, and Eucharist. How we will experience them is the point to ponder.)
It’s not the first time our worship of God has moved to its “Next Normal”. Think of how God revealed the Father to the Jewish people, only to then reveal God Incarnate, Jesus, at a time and place, only then to reveal God Inspirit, God beyond time and space, at Pentecost. Each revelation has moved our faith to its ‘next normal’. Each move changed how we expressed our faith in God, enriched our understanding of God, and enhanced our experience of the Spiritual dimensions of our lives.
So for the next few days, let’s do some pondering on the “Next Normal” as it relates to our faith …. this should be an interesting week !!!!!