We are years into this mess
And cannot see the end of it
Though we fear it is a long way off.
It seemed like the world ended and it still goes on.
We have remained home as best we could
We stopped our regular trips
To work
To the bookstore
To the coffee shop
To friends
To church
To family
Our social skills have deteriorated
We are all now sick of online meetings
Where we put on a decent looking-shirt
And pretend we are wearing pants.
We try to keep the dogs and small children silent
To pretend that this is all normal
It is our new normal
It isn’t normal
We have all decided that the world goes on
Even when it ended
White men still shoot black men with impunity
The poor are forgotten
Protections for the vulnerable are rolled back
Because they are seen as optional
Nice-to-haves
And at the same time
Someone needs to go to the store
To get milk and toilet paper
Even when too many people died today
Tens of thousands tested positive
For a disease that has torn up our normal.
We do not know how to grieve the loss of
The ordinary
The Ending
The Continuation
The need to wear pants daily
The small trips out
The injustices that continue
The visits with friends
The singing of hymns in church.

God, help us to imagine our way into a world
Where we hold multiple competing truths
About beginnings and endings
And justice
God, help us to find justice
At the birth of a new normal.
Amen.