Never Normal Anyways

I haven’t been comfortable with the word normal for a long time, And now I really don’t know what to do with it. I like bumper stickers that say 'normal is boring'. Or posters that say 'weird is a side effect of awesome'. I verbally dance around the word normal, often choosing conventional instead. Even the most conventional of my close friends are not very ‘normal’, and some might consider the adjective an insult. For most of my life the use of the word normal has been on a downward trend in books, but months into this upsetting era of pandemic and red zones, normal seems to be one of the most wished-for ideas, a word used like it is magic. Even some of the most funky folks I know are embracing nostalgia while naming our loneliness and losses and grief in one word: normal.

You might have noticed that I am making choices about our lessons to shorten the time of the service. Some of you may feel like we have all the time in the world, but I trust that there is good experience behind the time segments of the broadcast industry. More importantly, however, is looking ahead to being able to offer a modified and strictly organized and as safe as possible option of in-person communion services: which will need to be quite brief. So early this week I glanced at the readings and I saw the words Noah and baptism, and without really reading and chose 1 Peter (over the Acts of the Apostles lesson with Paul at th Aeropagus). 

It feels like a Great Flood kind of time, but it also doesn’t. Everything is storms of information and loss. We are a zoo’s worth of emotions inside of us and a rainbow of external experiences right now. But outside the world looks, normal. Grass keeps growing and bunnies chase, and there isn’t a disaster like a watery flood at our doors. Except that there is - and isn’t as obvious as a torrent. So the discord between the view outside of boring, and the feelings from our tossed hearts and grieving minds - the incongruence is making our seasick feeling even worse. So we cling to the wishes and balmy magic of the word normal. 

The first letter of Peter. It is a weird text. It is a beautiful Greek, which raises some logical curiosities. It makes arguments and advocates for ideas that are coloring outside the lines of what became normal in Christian doctrine. In our bulletin our lesson today is two paragraphs. The commentary was five pages long in a big book! The Noah connection with baptism is classic and almost unexamined, but the analogy here is odd if you think about it too much. The power isn’t in the details, but in the almost Jungian imagery. The whole letter is trying to work out what it means to be outside of normal, to be a resident alien, to face slander and lies, and not retaliate. How do we keep our whole lives aligned with Jesus’ commands to love as we are loved, when we feel so far from safe? 

1 Peter is pastoring at a distance and despite its detailed complexities and out of stepness, the focus is very potent to us right now: how do we hold fast to Jesus’ promises? How do we practice the common good in this bizarre storm of suffering and confusion and grief and distancing and denial - under sunny skies? Furthermore, this paragraph urges us to not idolize the previous norms. For the original audience, this meant whatever was found in the local idol practices. These previous ways only feed the denial of our deep anxiety and discomfort. The commendation here is that it is Jesus’ servant leadership that is our strength in this chaos. His death and resurrection are the victory over confusion and evil. 

At the top of this lesson is the directive: do what is right - follow the commands of Jesus - especially when it is hard. In this, we will find blessing, not saccrine escapism or numb glee - but Christ's peace, which is connected centered gladness. This promise has held true for a long time, it has been tested before and found to be verifiable. It can meet this era of grief and weirdness. Follow the directions of Jesus. Love. Serve. Adapt. 

We have been baptized into Christ’s life, and death, and resurrection. We are people who have promised to move beyond our comfort zone and brave the strange and the unknown. Jesus is with us in learning unexpected new ways to strive for wholeness and peace. Yes - we feel strange because we are stuck in an ark when the rains have stopped. It isn’t normal. Much of what we thought was normal might lay in our wake: and it will be ultimately alright, if not in the way we had expected. We can lament all that we left behind and lean lovingly into the adaptations of today and tomorrow. The Spirit is with us in this. Advocating for the best of us, and brooding over these and chaotic waters with divine love and energy. 

This time is difficult - and the message of 1 Peter for us today is that our places of pain are the places of grace where we learn anew how fiercely we are held by God.  This is where we learn that we are not finished, we are not alone, that we are still changing, and the church is too. Maybe weird is the new normal. And just maybe, weird has always been normal for disciples of Jesus Christ.

CCRP

DioPA

Easter 6 RCL A

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