66 days to change the world

In an article in the European Journal of Social Psychology, Philippa Lally comes to the conclusion that it takes anything between 18 and 254 days for something to become a habit. In fact, says Lally, on average, something becomes a habit after 66 days. So, if you want to change the way you do things, you've got to be committed for just over two months. 

As we journey out of lockdown, I've been reflecting on this. We've had some sort of restrictions since March 2020, which takes us to about 14 months, which is longer than 254 days and definitely longer than 66. Perhaps this different way of existing has now become a habit, and when things change, some of these habits will be hard to break. 

Take going to IKEA for instance - I went on Friday, but I found it difficult to park. Not because there were no spaces - the car park is mahoosive - but because there weren't three spaces together so I could park in the centre space and still be far away from other cars. Social distancing has come to my parking habits. As someone who has always kept my distance from others (it's the family way), I've been surprised that the need to social distance over the last 14 months has become so much more of a behavioural habit that I am slightly freaked out by getting close to anyone. I am one of those people who suddenly shouts at the telly 'but you're not social distancing!'. 

We're all going to be challenged in whatever the next few weeks and months bring because our habits have changed - our shopping habits (I've thankfully broken the online supermarket shopping habit, but it was tough), the way we are around other people, our worshipping habits (isn't it easier just to sit on your sofa even if it is lacking?), our everyday routines (who else rolls out of bed straight to their desk?)..... some of the habits might be worth keeping and nurturing, but many will have to be broken and changed as life changes again, and that'll be hard. 

The effects of the pandemic on our habits is a small window into the habits that we have developed over our whole lives and the habits we have developed as a society as a whole. We have a whole load of bad habits that affect the way we treat others and approach issues of justice. At Baptist Assembly 2021 Sunday morning service, Shane Claiborne talked about how we have adjusted as a society to accept injustice as normal - as something that just happens because of the way things are. Whilst we might say that we believe in equity and justice for all, the reality is, that our whole way of living has adjusted to habits that present injustices as normal.

Shane talked about our need to readjust, to rethink the whys and the wherefores, to consider the habitual behaviours in society (I'm not sure he used quite those words, but bear with a bad listener) we accept as normal and seek to live in a more Jesus way. 

You see, Jesus presented a vision for his Kingdom where those who we would not normally see as blessed are the blessed ones (see the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5). His kingdom is a kingdom of justice and joy, of love and of peace. If we accept that the rich - poor divide is just the way it is, or that foodbanks are always going to be around, or that racism or sexism is just the way it is..... if we accept that mantra of 'things or that person or that place is never going to change' then we miss the potential that Jesus sees in the world and the role we have to play in bringing transformation that points to, that shows signs of what the way of Jesus is. 

In Ephesians 5:1-2 (Message Translation) it says this:

"Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behaviour from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that"

As we break pandemic habits and form new ones we need to think about the other habits we need to break and the ones we need to take up, and as we do that we need to observe 'how Christ' and be a bit more like that. This is Jesus who left the extravagance of heaven to live on broken earth, to move into the house next door. This is Jesus who went and spent time with the people who nobody else would step near. This is Jesus who turned the world upside down, not by shaking it to get the broken pieces out, but by embedding himself within it, taking its brokenness upon him and becoming broken with it as he died on the cross. This is Jesus who cried 'it is finished' as he gave up himself so that new life might come and new ways might be formed. 

This is Jesus, who in resurrection declared that it doesn't have to be this way and showed us the way of transformation.

And in a society that is adjusted to a normality or habitus of injustice, the call of 'how Christ loved' is a call to readjust our view and be people who are committed to developing habits that reflect his image far more brightly than the image of the broken world in which we dwell. 

Desperately seeking Sabbath

 

What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare?- No time to stand beneath the boughs And stare as long as sheep or cows: No time to see, when woods we pass, Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass: No time to see, in broad daylight, Streams full of stars, like skies at night: No time to turn at Beauty’s glance, And watch her feet, how they can dance: No time to wait till her mouth can Enrich that smile her eyes began? A poor life this if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare. WH Davies This poem came to mind as I've been reflecting on the process of re-opening, of reforming, of restarting, of new beginnings as we pace the road out of lockdown. There has been much talk of new beginnings, of things changing, of the old passing away and the new being allowed to flourish as life has forced us to stop and stare.  There is a lot of talk about how lockdown life has given us time to reflect and contemplate the meaning of life, our reason for doing what we do, and particularly, in my role, where we are going as churches.  For some people, this might be true. Exciting new things might come from months of planning and reflecting, of waiting on God. But in my circumstance, and in many others circumstances where the work just hasn't stopped, that time of pause, we're still waiting for.  My life has been one long race in the last year or so - suddenly moving the way the church works years beyond where we were as we embraced technology with a crash. Trying to love and serve the community that we're called to in the best way possible with increasing needs for practical and pastoral support. Life hasn't stopped and I, for one, am exhausted. And as we begin to open up again, I am aware that I am already at capacity, beyond capacity where the energy to keep going is much lower than it has ever been, yet the need to re-open is pressing.  I am almost constantly wondering where rest will ever come.  You see, because we have been so far beyond anything normal than whatever normal is, the pressure to find the normal that was is huge. And when the normal that was, was so much more than capacity should have allowed, the never ending pull is straining quite hard right now.  And that's before we ever get to the place of processing the trauma of the last year and a bit. On the seventh day God rested. He had used a huge amount of energy in creating the world and rest was important - not only to appreciate all that had been, but also to bring to the world a key part of living - that of the need to rest.  When Moses brought down from Mount Sinai the ten commandments, there in the centre of the commandments was that of rest - of sabbath. It sits as a hinge between the importance of right relationship with God and the importance of right relationship with the world and people in it. It sits there reminding us that without rest, we cannot live, we cannot thrive.  As we find our way out of the roadmap, remember that we are not made to move from one marathon to another, that rest in between is important.  As we find our way out of the roadmap, we need to remember that it is God's way we seek, and that God's way puts in rest, right there, smack bang in the middle. And that rest is not just sleep. That rest is not just a day off. That rest is about finding our place once again, not in doing as much as we can to find normal, but in seeking the new regular God is calling us to.  Take some time to just hang about. We've not been allowed to do that for a while.