Deja Vu, Knitted Jumpers and How ‘More Normal’ is the New(ish) Normal.

Have you ever bought the best, latest, newest version of something only to find that it is not that different to the old one you had - just a lot more expensive?! We all have. And it makes some of us just a bit suspicious of the claim that something is new. Lots of people are talking about what the post-covid ‘new normal’ will look like. What will change? How will life be different to what we took for granted before?

From the deja vu experience I had yesterday, it might not actually change very much. A lady literally pushed me out of the way to get to the ‘offers’ refrigerator in Morrisons. I asked, with a smile and a wink, whether we were social distancing today and received the reply (in one of the gruffest Edinburgh accents I have ever heard) “No. There’s too many people in my way”. Back to the good ol’ days!!! (No shoppers were harmed in the making of this story - except that I nearly laughed my head off!).

We all know that the economy has taken a massive hit and we will likely revert to giving each other 1980’s style knitted jumpers for Christmas. But look around you. Many of the problems which were present in society before are still here now, largely unchanged. People who were mean and arrogant before are still mean and arrogant now. Many more failing marriages have been pushed closer to the brink. Criminals are still criminals. Gangs are still gangs and knives are still weapons. Addicts are still battling with addictions. Homeless people still live on the streets. Racism is still a problem. So is the minority who prefer to use violence and anarchy in place of peaceful protest. Brexit is still moving ahead, to the joy or despair of many. The process of devolution and politics of independence continue to shake the constitutional foundations of the United Kingdom. Media witch-hunts and fake news conspiracies Still abound. Donald Trump is still posting unwise, impulsive comments on Twitter. Many places in the world are still torn by the same inter-ethnic and inter-national conflicts and wars. Poverty, pollution, and corruption remain. Forced prostitution, people smuggling, and child-sex crimes continue unabated. Some countries are still hosting massive refugee camps. Others countries are still locking up dissidents in modern day concentration camps. At the different ends of the financial spectrum people will continue to play the system through benefit fraud or tax avoidance. It would not surprise me, now that the initial swell of goodwill towards NHS staff is ebbing, if we start to hear of legal cases against medical staff concerning the choices they made with regards who would receive treatment and who could not. I hope I am wrong - but watch that space.

These problems have not changed in essence but it is quite likely that they will now become more intense. We are social beings and after weeks of being locked up and restricted, it is no surprise that feelings and frustrations are running high. I suspect this is contributing to the disorder we are seeing in some of the anti-racism protests. People have had enough of lockdown, enough of being told what they can and can’t do, enough of all kinds of things. So no surprise that the murder of George Floyd lit a fuse, particularly among those who already feel disempowered and disenfranchised by society. I suspect that as economic pressures really bite in the months to come, we will see other frustrations boiling over too, especially if retrospective science indicates that the pandemic restrictions have been unnecessarily severe. So the ‘New Normal’ will only be ‘New-ish’. And the ‘New-ish’ normal will revolve around this intensity of feeling becoming ‘More Normal’.

The Bible speaks about a different kind of ‘New Normal’ which involves actual, radical, long-lasting change that can impact and reorientate the lives of individuals and whole communities. Jesus does not just give forgiveness to people who trust Him. He also gives a power which can set us free from the sins He has forgiven. In 1 Corinthians 6 the  Apostle Paul wrote about a group of Christians and described them in this way:

“...Do you not know that the unrighteousness will not inherit the kingdom of God?

Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers,

nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards,

nor revivers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you...”

That’s what they were like before - pretty much like me and you. But then something happened to create an entirely ‘New Nomal’:

“But you were washed, you were sanctified [set apart as holy],

you were justified [declared not guilty] in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ

and by the Spirit of our God”.

If you have trusted in Jesus, it does not matter how you used to identify or what your old behaviour was like. Now your identity is tied up with Jesus so that you start to desire what He wants instead of your old sinful or merely natural desires. You start to love what He loves, instead of the things your old sinful heart loved. And this does not just mean turning over a new leaf or starting with a clean slate, only to make a complete mess of it again. Christianity is not about ‘being good’ and behaving better than other people so that you can look down on them. It is about being in love with Jesus and living out of the grace He gives you in order to become a radically New person.

The Bible teaches that knowing and trusting Jesus Christ means

“...to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life

and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit

of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God

 in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:22-24).