Why Settle for Normalcy? May 18, 2021 The first prayer that I heard on the first Sabbath of the pandemic was a plea for “normal times.” Last Sabbath someone else on the service via Zoom made this same plaintive plea for normalcy. It made me wonder, what is normalcy? And what does it mean when we tell ourselves that we want to get back to it? “Normal” isn’t coming back. The question many of us are asking is this: “How might the church change to achieve a ‘new’ normal? What is normalcy for the church and for us as individuals?” When many students of history hear talk of “normalcy,” they think of Warren G. Harding. Harding did not invent normalcy. Not the word, nor the state of being. But he benefited from the appeal of both. The lessons from his presidency show that a quick retreat to the past can be just a mirage.