Bloomberg CityLab reports on the world's cities, communities, and neighborhoods: How they work, the challenges they face, and the solutions they need. Here is what they had to say this past week. ‘The widened boulevards and reimagined streets of Paris following a deadly cholera outbreak in the 19th century offer a unique lesson in how cities can thrive after a public health crisis.’
Bloomberg CityLab
The same day I read this there was an item on the CTV evening news from Barrie in which it talked about Dunlop Street in Barrie being shut to cars on selected Saturdays during the warmer weather. Apparently the shop keepers are calling for this shutdown to be more regular as the increased pedestrian traffic is good for the businesses. It was instigated in part as a reaction to a decrease in in-person shopping due to the current pandemic as well as street closures due to construction.
Change follows disruption in the New Testament stories of the cruxifixction when the people who survived the trauma of the death of their leader turned to a new way of living that included congregate living and sharing of resources.
The only thing that it seems we can count on is that there will be change because of COVID-19. As a friend said this week....
‘I wouldn’t want to miss how all this ends!’
After reading this blog...(made me think as usual, Lynn)...I was clearing out some papers and came across a letter written to our congregation of The Good Shepherd by our priest. In it she mentioned reading a book called The Lacuna and went on to describe that a lacuna can mean a gap in something...the missing piece of a story. In fact, Harrison, a character in this book by Barbara Kingsolver, stated that "the most important part of the story is the piece of it you don't know."
ReplyDeleteWe all have so many questions regarding this pandemic and what life will be like afterwards. We all have this gap of not knowing and are wondering how it will be filled. I haven't begun to process what all this is about but I love the words from Isaiah 7:7. It describes a gap that was inflicted for harm but God still had the last word... then and now: "This gap shall not stand neither shall if come to pass." When my world sometimes feels out of control...and never more so than now....those words give me reason to believe that just because I don't have the answers, the answers aren't there to be found. ( This was a concept I learned from Algebra many years ago!!) I look forward indeed to seeing how this all ends and may it end soon with a better world.
One of my favourite family photos was taken in the London, England garden of my Granny's house. She is sitting on a bench looking very regal surrounded by her son and family including my handsome young father in his Canadian soldier uniform. World War Two has just ended and there is such joy and a great serenity on all of their faces. It was by far not the end of sorrows and struggles but it has filled the gap in my mind with hope as we look ahead...hopefully to better days.
Judy Imrie