Moving Forward Spiritually in our Post-Pandemic World

In the absence of love and belonging there is suffering.

Brené Brown

The past few months, amid providing inclement weather service to hundreds of our homeless neighbors, celebrating the holidays, ushering in a new year, and partnering with a new church body, I’ve been digging deep into spiritual practices and exploring what it means to be a Christian in a post-pandemic contemporary culture.

On this quest, I’ve been swimming in uncharted waters while also walking along some familiar paths. In some ways, I’ve had to learn what it means to retreat daily from this world and shelter in the refuge of our home.

Over the past few months, I’ve grappled with both frustration and discouragement while simultaneously being in awe of seeing God on the move. I have yearned to lean more deeply into things sacred and holy.

I’ve visited past places, rekindling my love for the songs of U2 while delving deeper into the ancient psalms, as I sit and write new ones. It’s interesting listening to all these old, familiar songs from a new, fresh perspective.

I’m continuing to learn the importance of perspective and how it changes over the course of our lives. I don’t see with the same eyes I once used to see or hear with the same ears I once used to hear.

There is an awkward courage found in sharing our vulnerabilities. I’m not sure how we can survive without this transparency of the soul amidst the struggle of life in a post-pandemic world. I get the sense that my experience as an American Christian living in the United States is drastically different from my human counterparts scattered throughout all the different places of this planet we inhabit.

In our post-pandemic world, the question remains: how do we move forward spiritually knowing what we know, having seen what we have seen, and having heard what we have heard?

Prayerfully,

Rainer Bantau

The Devotional Guy™

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