This year has been summed up in one phrase: what else can go wrong?

In the midst of our pandemic despair rises the spectre of racism. I have been profoundly moved recently listening to the stories of pain and suffering from black men and women I know and respect in several different countries. I decided there was more wisdom listening to them than rushing to put forth my own opinions. Letting them speak makes most of what we white folk have to say redundant and unnecessary. For us to listen is the first step. More must then come, of course. And there is no better place to start than with Christians.

What else could go wrong?

For weeks I’ve been reluctant even to look at the news. It seems to go from bad to worse.

It’s a good thing Christians aren’t limited to what the media tells us. We have a wider and much deeper perspective.

That perspective tells us that God is at work.

In the famous play Waiting for Godot, two characters spend the entire play waiting for someone who never arrives. Amazingly, the playwright made a lot of money out of a play in which nothing really happens.

Waiting is one of the hardest things we do. Most of us have been spending far more time than we wanted to waiting in line to get into stores whose capacity has been limited. Our daughter Sarah has been waiting for travel restrictions to ease so that she can be reunited with her fiancé Jacob, who lives in the UK, and somehow have a wedding ceremony with at least some family members present. Several of our friends have been waiting for cancer treatment. All of us have been waiting for the public health emergency to pass.

How do we face fear and overcome it?

That was the question of the day in our morning coffee time, and as always, Elaine had my back pressed to the Biblical wall by the time we had finished.

Over many years of counselling, I have come to the conclusion that all of us struggle tangibly with fear. And that is important to know, because many people are under the delusion that there is a class of super Christians out there who float several inches above the ground and never give fear the time of day.

Like most of you, my world was turned upside down a few weeks ago. And like many of you, I started living in a different world instead.

The world of electronic communication suddenly became the platform for my communication with the outside world.

At the beginning, it seemed like a temporary substitute — something to tide me over until I got to the other side. Then it seemed to take on a life of its own. I was preaching online, I was speaking to small groups online, I was doing eschatology sessions every week on Instagram Live, I was on Zoom panels every week for our church, I was speaking on Messenger Video to people all over the world.