Whatever happened to Brexit?

I was listening to the radio yesterday and the article was about the people who only a few weeks ago were flooded out of their homes and how they are now coping with trying to rebuild their lives and businesses in the midst of the corona virus pandemic.  I'd forgotten about the floods in the UK which were so devastating and long lasting and which only happened a few weeks ago.   I felt guilty that I could have so quickly put those poor people out of mind and I wondered how on earth they are coping with everything that is going on at the moment.     And a few days ago I was talking to someone about how it was really not that long ago that the only topic of conversation was Brexit.  It filled the news every day for weeks and months in the same way that covid 19 is filling our screens now.   But as far as I am aware, since China went into lockdown the 'B word' has not been mentioned by anyone.   Strange isnt it, that something which can be all-consuming and seem like the most impossible/tragic/overwhelming'problematic/important thing in the world one week can just fall completely off the agenda the next week?

It strikes me that its all a matter of perspective.

For many of us Brexit was the biggest thing that had ever happened in our lifetimes - a matter of national importance which is going to affect every single one of us in the UK one way or another.  But then something even bigger happened.  Bigger in terms of scale and in terms of impact.   A worldwide event which could impact not only our businesses, travel plans, incomes, but could actually kill us.   Forget Brexit.  Brexit merely has the ability to rearrange things somewhat.  Covid 19 is in a whole different league.    What had our whole focus last month is now barely visible as something bigger and more scary comes into sight.

Which leads me to think that in six months time we won't be talking about or thinking about corona virus any more.  It will have passed over and there will be something else to worry. talk, argue and facebook about.  And so it goes on, and on , and on.   How do people out there with no faith cope with the lurching from one crisis to the next?   How do they keep on going and maintain a sense of positivity and hope?   Because they most surely do.   You only have to look at how the nation has rallied this week with countless acts of generosity and kindness and sacrifice to know that people are basically good, decent and full of a sense of hope and purpose.   But people will be exhausted by al of this by the time it is over.  And then what happens when the next wave hits?   Will the business owners who were fretting over Brexit, then got flooded and then had to self isolate whilst trying to rebuild their lives, have the resilience to stand up again?   If you dont have the peace that passes all understanding to anchor you in the storm how do you cope?

For some reason this isolation time is making me think big thoughts.   Im thinking big church, big society, big world thoughts.   Im not sure why, but Im glad.  I think God is probably thinking big thoughts right now.  He has a plan, and it's not about helping me to keep my kids occupied for the next sixteen weeks.  Its about how to shake everything that isnt built on a solid foundation until all ungodliness and corruption and greed is reduced to dust.  It's about a wake up call to a self-dependent, selfish and increasingly godless world.  It's ultimately about a massive global revival.

But in order to get there we, church, have to demonstrate to this terrified, shaken, flooded, bankrupt, warring, environmentally broken world that there is another way.   We have to show that we can do better than the best of the world.  We are kinder than the kindest, more generous than the philanthropists,  more justice demanding than the activists.  But more than any of that we need to demonstrate that we live with the Prince of Peace.  We carry Him with us.  We are the people who speak to the waves.  We are the people who walk on water.  We are the people who hear His voice and know His plans and can communicate and execute them.   Light.  Salt.  Power.
This is a time to learn how to do all this better so that when the next crisis hits we are a people set apart, a city on a hill to which people will run for refuge and help.  A very present help in time of trouble.  That's us.