A good friend of mine started saying the phrase “we’re trying to create the new normal” a lot lately. I like that. I think it’s a good summary of what we’re trying to do with the Grassroots Conspiracy here in downtown ‘Couve. Normal often sounds appealing. Teenagers spend most of their time and energy chasing after this illusive idea of being normal…But as Dave Ramsey would say, you don’t want to be normal ’cause normal is broke. While I’m not necessarily talking about money (though how we use our money to bless the world is a part of it) it is true that we don’t want to be normal! With regard to community and how we do life, normal is to be lonely. Normal is to busy. Normal is to spend every afternoon and evening watching TV. Normal is to idealize self sufficiency. Normal is to eat unhealthy and to eat on the run. Normal is broke (I mean this both financially and with regard to how life is lived). Normal sucks and does not produce the kind of life we were intended for.

Part of what’s been so beautiful in how we’ve been cared for up through this stage of our fight against cancer is that it is creating a new normal in our community. YOU are a part of creating a new normal for what it looks like to care for people in distress. Normal is to respond with help when things are urgent, when things are fresh and exciting, and to respond for a short period of time. Normal is for Jess and I to not ask for help and to suffer quietly in the name of self sufficiency and pride. Normal doesn’t work. Normal is not the picture of community that we are trying to create. The new normal is going to fight to be different. It means that the person in crisis is willing to receive help, it means that second and third waves of help come after the immediate emotional response. It means that lines are blurred, that everyone gives and receives as they are able, that every gift is valued no matter how big or small, and that awkwardness is embraced rather than allowed to hold us from speaking.

So thank you to all of you who are a part of helping to create a new normal for how we care for those in crisis and do life together. In no way are we done or have we arrived (arrival is a mirage, process is a reality…right?) but we are continually carving out a path toward what it means to do life together. The new normal is counter cultural and it necessitates a community of conspirators who are willing to rise up and embrace that counter cultural posture as a part of a movement of people who are different…because if we’re not different then we’ll just end up normal…and who wants to be normal?