We are currently stuck in an eerie Groundhog Day kind of existence. For those of you who don't know this iconic 90's comedy, it stars Bill Murray as Phil Connors, a TV weatherman who, during an assignment covering the annual Groundhog Day event, is caught in a time loop, repeatedly reliving the same day. And here in quarantine life, one can't help but feel the striking resemblance of being stuck day after day in the same mundane routine. If you're anything like me, you may wonder what day it is, if you've brushed your teeth yet, how many days in a row you've worn the same sweatpants, and when the last time it was you showered. (Don't worry, it's not as bad as it sounds!)
But just as in the movie, we can press on our window panes as much as we want. We can protest and selfishly "fight for our freedom". We can bang our head on the same wall over and over again, feeling utterly stuck and impatiently waiting to return to "normal."
OR we can realize that we no longer want to return to what was.
We will not go back to normal. Normal never was. Our pre-corona existence was never normal other than we normalized greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate and lack. We should not long to return, my friends. We are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment. One that fits all of humanity and nature. -Sonja Renee Taylor
Right now, we have a unique opportunity to rethink our way of life. Turns out, there are lessons to be learned here in these Groundhog Days. Jesus’ message of repentance as he walked this earth was simple.
There is another way to live.
And he proclaimed and demonstrated a Way of Love so stunning that no power of death or evil could conquer. In fact Jesus' death birthed a whole new world and a pathway to the fullness of resurrection life!
Easter means that every dead end becomes a pathway to life.
I want us to see this time of quarantine not as a dead end, a time loop, or a pit — but as a pathway and a journey into faith, hope and love. In the Spiritual journey, whenever one hits a wall, there is always an invitation to go deeper into transformation. When what used to work in our lives no longer works, the Spirit is beckoning us toward growth and towards a deeper and wider experience of God’s love than we have ever known.
For many of us, what was working before no longer works here in the grit of our Groundhog Day existence. The shock is over and the monotony of confounding restrictions, disembodied Zoom calls, and the confines of our walls stretches on ahead of us. Is it just me, or is this "constraint" exposing some of our more ugly or unhealthy ways of coping in life — even in spite of our favorite sweatpants and Netflix subscription!?! (Asking for a friend) Like Phil in Groundhog Day, we find ourselves struggling to live into new rhythms, new practices, and new ways of being.
And so I want to invite you to embark with us on a journey over the next 8 weeks to move from anger to consent, from despair to hope, and from fear to love. Let us move from the dead end to the pathway — to find an interior freedom that no confining circumstance or loss can take away. My prayer is that we would emerge from this season different people. People who reveal just a little bit more the light and life of our resurrected Christ. People who embody a deeper faith and a wider love. We have been given the opportunity to stitch a new garment, a fabric of love right here in our small patch of earth!
The journey starts this week! All the details are included below and if you missed it, here is last week's post with a fuller description. If you haven't yet, RSVP to get your book and be paired with a partner. And be sure to join us this Sunday as we launch our journey into Freedom in Constraint!
Writing to you fondly from quarantine in my most comfy sweatpants, my face pressed longingly against the windowpane until I can see you all again,
Jessica
But just as in the movie, we can press on our window panes as much as we want. We can protest and selfishly "fight for our freedom". We can bang our head on the same wall over and over again, feeling utterly stuck and impatiently waiting to return to "normal."
OR we can realize that we no longer want to return to what was.
We will not go back to normal. Normal never was. Our pre-corona existence was never normal other than we normalized greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate and lack. We should not long to return, my friends. We are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment. One that fits all of humanity and nature. -Sonja Renee Taylor
Right now, we have a unique opportunity to rethink our way of life. Turns out, there are lessons to be learned here in these Groundhog Days. Jesus’ message of repentance as he walked this earth was simple.
There is another way to live.
And he proclaimed and demonstrated a Way of Love so stunning that no power of death or evil could conquer. In fact Jesus' death birthed a whole new world and a pathway to the fullness of resurrection life!
Easter means that every dead end becomes a pathway to life.
I want us to see this time of quarantine not as a dead end, a time loop, or a pit — but as a pathway and a journey into faith, hope and love. In the Spiritual journey, whenever one hits a wall, there is always an invitation to go deeper into transformation. When what used to work in our lives no longer works, the Spirit is beckoning us toward growth and towards a deeper and wider experience of God’s love than we have ever known.
For many of us, what was working before no longer works here in the grit of our Groundhog Day existence. The shock is over and the monotony of confounding restrictions, disembodied Zoom calls, and the confines of our walls stretches on ahead of us. Is it just me, or is this "constraint" exposing some of our more ugly or unhealthy ways of coping in life — even in spite of our favorite sweatpants and Netflix subscription!?! (Asking for a friend) Like Phil in Groundhog Day, we find ourselves struggling to live into new rhythms, new practices, and new ways of being.
And so I want to invite you to embark with us on a journey over the next 8 weeks to move from anger to consent, from despair to hope, and from fear to love. Let us move from the dead end to the pathway — to find an interior freedom that no confining circumstance or loss can take away. My prayer is that we would emerge from this season different people. People who reveal just a little bit more the light and life of our resurrected Christ. People who embody a deeper faith and a wider love. We have been given the opportunity to stitch a new garment, a fabric of love right here in our small patch of earth!
The journey starts this week! All the details are included below and if you missed it, here is last week's post with a fuller description. If you haven't yet, RSVP to get your book and be paired with a partner. And be sure to join us this Sunday as we launch our journey into Freedom in Constraint!
Writing to you fondly from quarantine in my most comfy sweatpants, my face pressed longingly against the windowpane until I can see you all again,
Jessica
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