Binge watching happens when the story we’re invested in ends with a cliffhanger, a revelation, or a surprising twist, and we’ve left wondering, “What happens next? What now?” and then, barely pausing, we click “Next Episode” and continue watching. 

If only the questions of “What Now?” and “What Next?” were so easy to answer in real life! For nearly a year and a half now, we’ve been in pandemic reality, eliminating or limiting contact with beloved family and friends, creating new routines, diving into online school, navigating the slow return to in-person school, juggling roles, working to maintain mental health, losing jobs, getting vaccinated or wondering when we’ll be vaccinated, or worrying about being vaccinated, and struggling to make sense and meaning of what has happened. As we move into the summer, many of us are asking, “When will we be able to hug friends and family again? Sing together again? Return to church? How will we ensure a more fair and just post-pandemic world? What Now? What Next?” 

These questions feel urgent because the answers no longer rest in a far-away-time or distant place. The questions are alive in our hearts and minds. But unlike on Hulu, or Netflix, or Amazon Prime, there’s no “Next Episode” button to click to arrive at the answer.

Instead, we are living in the tension of these questions. We can’t binge our way through them. As people of faith, perhaps we can reshape these questions and ask, “What is the spiritual work right now? What spiritual work comes next? How do we hold grief and gratitude, fear and excitement, uncertainty and new found clarity, all at the same time? How can we go slow, and thoughtfully, trusting that the answers will emerge?”

This summer, in worship, we’ll create space to honor and live with these questions, not rushing toward answers, but engaging in spiritual practices and timeless wisdom, as we prepare our hearts for flesh and blood community, for re-engaging with the world, for doing justice work, hand in hand and side by side, with our neighbors and friends.