The thousand year long day

 

2 Peter 3:8. NRSV

Remember, with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.

Right now it almost feels like one day in 2020 is like a thousand years! There are lots of jokes on the internet about how long this year has been, and how long every single day has seemed to be.  We are all trying to adjust to something we don’t want to adjust to, that we are fighting with every fiber of our being.  Oh, we may be staying inside and watching our distance from people and wearing masks, but we don’t like it. It feels unnatural and wrong.

I love science fiction.  I love space operas and steam punk and alternate time lines.  Not really a fan of dystopian plots of the Mad Max variety, but I enjoy the ones where a group of good people work and fight to make the world a better place.  (I also love fantasy - dragons and magic and elves and such, but that’s an entirely different topic.)  Much of science fiction is simply writing a normal sort of story but with one aspect of society changed.  Common themes include such things as a world where money is no longer needed, there is no poverty, all diseases have been cured, there is one world government so no more wars over territory, 

Another common theme is a world where no one goes out.  Except for some essential workers everyone lives in their small apartment, works online, does leisure activity online, shops online, goes to school on line, gets food delivered by ordering online.  Somehow this all sounds eerily familiar.  Of course, in the sci fi stories this state of affairs happens gradually as people become more and more accustomed to living on the internet.   These stories are not expected to be a celebration of what might be.  Rather they tend to be warnings of what lies ahead if we continue to immerse ourselves in our phones and online interactions instead of in person interactions.  Because this doesn’t just feel unnatural and wrong, it is unnatural and wrong.  We can do many things well in isolation like pray, meditate, and create, and some individuals are better suited to isolation, but generally speaking humans flourish best in community.  

For the time being we have little choice about staying at home, separated from one another because we love one another and wish to keep each other healthy.  This is a good thing, but it is temporary.   It will end eventually and we will be able to live in community once again.  And worship in community. And share the Lord’s Supper in community.  But for now, we practice acceptance of our present reality, and keep in mind that it only feels like the days are a thousand years long.   

Eternal God, we know for you time doesn’t really matter, because you have always been and you always will be.  Our time is finite, and right now we feel like our lives are on hold.  Help us, Lord, to accept that just for today we must exist in this strange place where time seems not to have meaning.  May we fill each of these thousand year long days with activities that are pleasing to you.  Amen