The Case For Ordinary Whimpers and Diaper Changing

‘This is the Way the World Ends: Not with a Bang but a Whimper’- T.S. Eliot

The Psalter’s optimism shapes much of the life of Israel. In those songs, God laughs at the schemes of evil politicians (Psalm 2), crushes the heads of his enemies (Psalm 68), and secures the victory of his people (Psalm 108). But such societal shifts in the life of Old Israel did not often happen through cataclysmic events but through the ordinariness of liturgical habits practiced by the saints. The people of God lived through the daily rhythms of Israel’s story in word and deed, prayer and praise. The songs of Israel were composed in the trail of blood, tears, and lament.

The melodies and lyrics flowing from the lips of God’s covenant people were the results not of “bangs” but “whimpers” in the history of the Church. We too often observe that unless something radical occurs, an event of devastating proportion, we shall have no world left for us and our grandchildren. But the changes in the Bible are often through “still small voices” and “planted seeds,” which begin with small acts of goodness and gratitude enough to fill the world with a growing song of doxology.