Are you feeling overwhelmed and anxious today? Do you have so many deadlines and things to accomplish that it seems like you can’t possibly get everything done in time? Are there struggles and sorrows in your life or the lives of people you care about that are weighing on your mind? Does the global climate crisis or the national political situation or the Covid-19 pandemic worry and distract you?
Take a deep breath. You are not alone. Change will come.
Other people on campus, across the country, and all over the world are struggling with some of the very same things that burden and concern you. Through history, people have faced personal sorrows, neighborhood issues, and world-wide concerns like the ones we are burdened by now.
In this week’s gospel lesson, when some of the disciples ask when the current power structure will be overturned, Jesus tells them there will be a variety of calamities. Some interpret this passage as Jesus laying out signs of the end of the world, and have tried to predict it based on historical and current events. That’s not it. Jesus is describing the kind of crises and challenges that are always happening in the world. Wars, rumors of political upheaval, natural disasters and their ongoing impact – these are continually part of life on earth. They have always happened.
Jesus doesn’t tell the disciples (and us) not to worry about the issues we are facing. He does not imply that there aren’t reasons to be concerned. Instead, Jesus frames the challenges we face in a globally relatable way. Birth pangs. Difficulties that promise to bring something new. Pain and sorrow that usher in new life.
Take a deep breath. You are not alone. Change will come.
God is here, transforming the world. God is here, filling our lives with the presence of compassion and love and hope. God is here, empowering us all to care for each other. God is here, using the gifts and abilities of people around the globe to confront the challenges we face as individuals, as nations and as the whole world.
Peace, my friends.