The elders are gone from the city gate; the young men have stopped their music. – Lamentations 5:14

Today's Scripture Reading (June 27, 2020): Lamentations 5

The scene plays out all over the society in which I live, but it is most evident in the food courts of the shopping malls, if you are paying attention. First, it is the groups of retired people sitting at the tables with their coffees in hand, talking about whatever it is that has piqued their attention. A group that I am welcomed at, but to which I admittedly rarely attend, chooses McDonald's as their meeting place. They talk about current events, political beliefs, and the activities of their children and grandchildren. They speak of their memories, the way things used to be, and how their memories of youth differ from their experiences at the other end of life. They mourn or celebrate the constant change and pace of life. Nothing is off-limits in their conversations, and there is little that they enjoy more than sitting and talking with their friends and associates at these coffee klatches.

But at the same food courts, there are other groups of people. Some of these groups live at the other end of the age spectrum. And maybe one of the standard features of this group is their ever-present headphones or earbuds, which is most often connected to their phones, and their music. There, in the food court, they gather with friends, share music, and a common way of looking at life. Their music actually forms part of their political discussion and part of their protest to a society that often seems to fail to understand them. There, in the food court, they share life with those who see it the way that they do and often receive disapproving looks from the coffee klatches that are essentially doing the same thing in the same place, but in a different way.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, maybe one of the disturbing features of the time was that, if you had the opportunity to visit a food court, both groups had disappeared from the tables scattered throughout the area. And their absence signaled the disaster that was playing out in the culture at large. These groups of people, existing as both ends of the age spectrum, became our "canaries in a coal mine," alerting us to the social reality that something was very wrong.

Apparently, it is an old phenomenon. In the aftermath of the destruction of Jerusalem, Jeremiah looks at the city. He laments the disappearance of the older men, who once held their meetings at the gates of the city, as well as mourning the absence of the young men, who once played their music on the city streets. These signs of normalcy were gone and would not return during Jeremiah's lifetime. They were likely something that Jeremiah had once taken for granted, maybe even joked about them as he made his way through the city. But now, he is struck by what their absence means. What was once common, had gone extinct. All the prophet could do was write his lament, and wish that the older men would return to their conversations to the gates of the city and that the young men would begin to play their music once more. But his wishes are met with silence. Normalcy refused to return.   

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 26

Personal Note: Happy 61^st Anniversary to my parents, Duane and Shirley.