Changing, Shifting, and Moving

Indeed, things are shifting and I doubt we have internalized many of the changes. Here are only a few things I think will be changed, perhaps forever.

1. Hand shakes arose from Viking gesture which assured a person that one was not holding a sword or knife. The firmness of a handshake was once a referent to male vigor. The handshake is dying as virus transmission makes "elbow touches," and bows more and more acceptable.
2. I think the teenage hug culture is over. Yes, hugging someone is a way of expressing caring and closeness, but in the age of Covid, it is also murderous. I think the greeting hug will never return. This will have an enduring impact on those churches where "the peace" is a thing.
3. The cruise culture is dead. Instead of a floating palace of hedonism, the cruise ship is now thought of as a petri dish of infections. I doubt the public will re-embrace the cruise.
4. There are other changes is in the area of worship. Luther said the church is revealed in reformation. Jesus said he would lead believers to new places. So what might be the changes?
   
   I am thinking that Zoom(tm) and streaming are changing how we think of community. The verb, to congregate, currently means dangerously gather. I have been having an interesting discussion on the range of a sacramental blessing. Covid has made meetings of congregations distant or electronic for months.
   I do not know where these experiences and conversations lead, but I think the altar is moving.

In a sense this is my argument with Vice President Biden. He sees as a portion of his mission bringing America back to a level of decency and community ripped apart by the racist presidency of Trump. I am not at all sure we can claw our way back to civility. And when I look at the murderous police, and the murder of George Floyd, Lashan McDonald, and many, many others, I am not sure we should want to get to a now lost, largely White Privileged place. We need a new culture. A place where Cory Booker, Bernie Sanders, and especially Elizabeth Warren set the tone.

Is Biden better than Trump? Of course! He is a decent man. But we may need more radical changes.

FWIW