From the "Gracevine" newsletter article for Grace Lutheran Church, Thornville, Ohio, March 2023
The Worst Time to Be Alive?
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Romans 8:35 ESV (Monthly Watchword for March 2023)
Studying history has its benefits. I know that a lot of people don’t like memorizing dates and find it challenging remembering what happened with whom, when, where, and most importantly why. I don’t look down on anyone for not liking history. As one who is mostly mathematically deficient, I know what it is like to be less than excited about a subject.
But even I need to break out my limited math skills from time to time. Likewise, we need to crack open our history books from time to time.
We live in a strange world and a conflicted, divided society. These last few decades and even the last few years have seen sweeping social changes in our country and world. What accounts for this? Change is not necessarily bad, but neither is it necessarily good. I have come to believe that a part of the strangeness of our world these days is the result of too much change too quickly. We live in an era of instant communication, with little “filter” to anyone’s thoughts. In former times, making an opinion known required some effort, and this tended to moderate extremes. Now, all one must do is sit behind a computer screen and type. There is a saying I heard once: “We are drowning in information while starving for wisdom.”
Our world has its challenges, and there is no denying that. Drowning in information while lacking wisdom is a part of this, but we are also still recovering from the effects of COVID, and we just marked the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, just to name a couple examples. Back when COVID first hit in March of 2020, I heard some people claim that 2020 must be the worst time in human history. Some said this as a joke. Others were serious. It helps to have some historical perspective.
Beginning in the year 536 A.D., most of Europe was engulfed by darkness for at least eighteen months. Can you imagine? The Roman politician Cassiodorus commented, “We marvel to see no shadows of our bodies at noon.” He went on, “The seasons seem to be all jumbled up together.” Reports by others of the time are similar. What was this all about?
Historians believe that a volcanic explosion from Iceland was responsible for the massive cloud of smoke that blocked out the sun from most of Europe during that time. This explosion had far-reaching effects. The temperature of Europe dropped significantly. That and the lack of sunlight led to widespread crop failures. This led to massive starvation. This also led to an occurrence of the Bubonic plague a few years later. Estimates are that as much as a third of the population of the Byzantine Empire (the remnant of the Roman Empire in the East) was dead by the time things returned to normal. This was, according to some, the worst time to be alive.
A lot of things depend on our perspective. Whatever challenges we face in our time, we still have much for which to be thankful. By any standard, we live in the most prosperous time in human history, with access to medical care of which people of previous generations could only dream.
At least for now, the sunlight has not been blocked out of the sky in our time. At the same time, these have been a challenging few years on a lot of levels. And there is no guarantee that the coming years will be much better. If history teaches us anything, it is that we cannot expect that things will ever be perfect on this side of eternity. We live in the world in which we have been placed. But while we do, we continue to trust in the words of the Apostle Paul: nothing “in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39 ESV).
This time of year, the season of Lent, is an annual reminder of on the one hand our mortality and sinfulness, but on the other hand of God’s mercy and desire to turn us around. Our technology will only take us so far. Nothing changes our human nature and rebellion from the will of God. But thankfully, nothing changes God’s commitment to us, shown to us in the life of His Son, Jesus Christ. With that in mind, this or any time is not the worst time to be alive. In the words of the Psalmist, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).
God calls us to faithfulness in hearing his Word that brings life and salvation, even in dark times. There are no guarantees in life from day to day. But while we have breath, we are called to praise and serve the Lord as a congregation and as individuals, a response to His commitment to us. This Lent, let us devote ourselves to continued prayer for the world that God loves, looking for ways for us to be a part of the healing of this world, mindful also of our own need to be reconciled to God.
Pr. Tom Jacobson
The Worst Time to Be Alive?
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Romans 8:35 ESV (Monthly Watchword for March 2023)
Studying history has its benefits. I know that a lot of people don’t like memorizing dates and find it challenging remembering what happened with whom, when, where, and most importantly why. I don’t look down on anyone for not liking history. As one who is mostly mathematically deficient, I know what it is like to be less than excited about a subject.
But even I need to break out my limited math skills from time to time. Likewise, we need to crack open our history books from time to time.
We live in a strange world and a conflicted, divided society. These last few decades and even the last few years have seen sweeping social changes in our country and world. What accounts for this? Change is not necessarily bad, but neither is it necessarily good. I have come to believe that a part of the strangeness of our world these days is the result of too much change too quickly. We live in an era of instant communication, with little “filter” to anyone’s thoughts. In former times, making an opinion known required some effort, and this tended to moderate extremes. Now, all one must do is sit behind a computer screen and type. There is a saying I heard once: “We are drowning in information while starving for wisdom.”
Our world has its challenges, and there is no denying that. Drowning in information while lacking wisdom is a part of this, but we are also still recovering from the effects of COVID, and we just marked the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, just to name a couple examples. Back when COVID first hit in March of 2020, I heard some people claim that 2020 must be the worst time in human history. Some said this as a joke. Others were serious. It helps to have some historical perspective.
Beginning in the year 536 A.D., most of Europe was engulfed by darkness for at least eighteen months. Can you imagine? The Roman politician Cassiodorus commented, “We marvel to see no shadows of our bodies at noon.” He went on, “The seasons seem to be all jumbled up together.” Reports by others of the time are similar. What was this all about?
Historians believe that a volcanic explosion from Iceland was responsible for the massive cloud of smoke that blocked out the sun from most of Europe during that time. This explosion had far-reaching effects. The temperature of Europe dropped significantly. That and the lack of sunlight led to widespread crop failures. This led to massive starvation. This also led to an occurrence of the Bubonic plague a few years later. Estimates are that as much as a third of the population of the Byzantine Empire (the remnant of the Roman Empire in the East) was dead by the time things returned to normal. This was, according to some, the worst time to be alive.
A lot of things depend on our perspective. Whatever challenges we face in our time, we still have much for which to be thankful. By any standard, we live in the most prosperous time in human history, with access to medical care of which people of previous generations could only dream.
At least for now, the sunlight has not been blocked out of the sky in our time. At the same time, these have been a challenging few years on a lot of levels. And there is no guarantee that the coming years will be much better. If history teaches us anything, it is that we cannot expect that things will ever be perfect on this side of eternity. We live in the world in which we have been placed. But while we do, we continue to trust in the words of the Apostle Paul: nothing “in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39 ESV).
This time of year, the season of Lent, is an annual reminder of on the one hand our mortality and sinfulness, but on the other hand of God’s mercy and desire to turn us around. Our technology will only take us so far. Nothing changes our human nature and rebellion from the will of God. But thankfully, nothing changes God’s commitment to us, shown to us in the life of His Son, Jesus Christ. With that in mind, this or any time is not the worst time to be alive. In the words of the Psalmist, “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).
God calls us to faithfulness in hearing his Word that brings life and salvation, even in dark times. There are no guarantees in life from day to day. But while we have breath, we are called to praise and serve the Lord as a congregation and as individuals, a response to His commitment to us. This Lent, let us devote ourselves to continued prayer for the world that God loves, looking for ways for us to be a part of the healing of this world, mindful also of our own need to be reconciled to God.
Pr. Tom Jacobson