By Rev. Cameron Trimble, CEO of Convergence
Where do you go when you can go out?
The only place left is to go “in.”
Does it feel like we are on the cusp, either of a new awakening or a devolution into chaos? Perhaps we are on the edge of creating a new world, or we are on the edge of losing our world? The word we use over and over to describe our experience is “crisis.” We are facing the COVID-19 crisis. We have a global health crisis. We are in an economic crisis.
The word crisis comes from the Latinized form of the Greek word krisis, meaning “turning point.” We have come to a turning point, a time to make critical decisions.
Today we live in a world dealing with a political crisis on the scale of the Nixon era (or beyond). We have created an ecological crisis through global warming. We now face a global health and economic crisis with the coronavirus. But unlike times of our past, we are dealing with all three AT THE SAME TIME.
We are indeed in crisis – in a Great Turning – that has, if only for a moment, commanded us all to a contemplative life. We are bound to our homes, invited into solitude. We are required to “socially distance” and shrink our worlds to the immediacy around us. Everything is slowing down as we try to slow down the spread of the virus. The engines of the world are grinding to a halt.
And then…from crucifixion comes resurrection. New Life. The Great Turning.
The world we had is now revealing its weaknesses. We were living lives that were unsustainable. We were living in fear and suffering. But in the face of crisis, we are watching pollution clear from our cities. We are looking out for our neighbors. We are turning to empathy and love.
I believe we are in a time of deep awakening. We are making a new world, even as we try desperately to restart the world we once knew. Perhaps sit with that possibility, that a new world is becoming, in and through you.
