CHRIST IS RISEN!  HE IS RISEN INDEED!  ALLELUIA!

Easter was different this year, for sure!  But the core meaning of Easter is
certainly the same as it has since Jesus burst forth from His 3-day tomb!
The first Easter was anything but “normal!”  That Passover was like none
before.  Jesus, the Lamb of God, was sacrificed to atone for the sins of all
people for all time!  In Him we have a “NEW NORMAL!”  We have the hope of
salvation and life!

We’ve been hearing and reading lots of stuff about COVID-19 the past few
weeks and I really have nothing new, insightful, or creative to add that
hasn’t been repeated over and over again by the media.  So I decided instead
to share a bit of subtle yet pointed history with a slight dash of humor. So
here we go with The Green Thing, author unknown:

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older
lady that she should bring her own grocery bags. Plastic bags are bad for
the environment. The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, “We
didn’t have this ‘green thing’ back in my earlier days.”
The young clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation did
not care enough to save our environment for future generations.” The older
lady said that she was right. Our generation didn’t have the “green thing”
in its day. The older lady went on to explain:
Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles, and beer bottles to the
store, which sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and
refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really
were recycled. But we didn’t have the “green thing” back in our day.
Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for
numerous things. Most memorable besides household garbage bags was the use
of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure
that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not
defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on
the brown paper bags. But, too bad we didn’t do the “green thing” back then.
We walked up stairs because we didn’t have an escalator in every store and
office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a
300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But you are
right. We didn’t have the “green thing” in our day.
Back then we washed the baby’s diapers because we didn’t have the throw away
kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning
up 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our
early days.
Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always
brand-new clothing. But you’re right. We didn’t have the “green thing” back
in our day.
Back then we had one TV, or just one radio, in the house — not a TV in
every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief, not a
screen the size of the state of Montana.
In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have
electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item
to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not
Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. But no “green thing” back then.
Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the
lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working
so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate
on electricity. But you’re right. We didn’t have the “green thing” back
then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a
plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens
with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a
razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got
dull. But we didn’t have the “green thing” back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to
school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service
in the family’s $45,000 SUV or van, which cost more than a whole house did
before the “green thing.”
We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to
power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerized gadget to
receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order
to find the nearest burger joint.
But isn’t it sad that the current generation laments how wasteful we old
folks were just because we didn’t have the “green thing” back then?

This brought a smile to my face and a nod to my head. I lived during the end
of the no “green thing” days. And so did many of you. At the risk of
chastisement from some of my “green thing” friends, I must admit that I
still forget to bring my own grocery bags to the store. Guess I’m still
stuck back in the day when I covered my books with grocery bags.  God bless
your day – at home!

~ Pastor Dennis Krueger